Mark Cole, visiting ceramics artist, introduced himself to a studio filled with students using a narrative approach.
Born on July 4 in Detroit, Cole, the youngest of three boys, realized his passion for fishing and art at a young age.
“Nature has been something that has fascinated me for years,” Cole said.
When he began evaluating where to attend college, Cole chose Northern Michigan University because the school had a brand-new ceramics studio, and Cole would still be able to spend time outdoors.
Martin Zender, who built the ceramics studio, was on his way out due to retirement, and Sam Chung, another potter, replaced Zender.
Cole joked that Chung would use porcelain from a bag, something he was not used to.
“He ended up teaching us that ceramics could have more perimeter,” Cole said. “He has a control over porcelain that was something that I still envy today.”
Cole graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics in 2000.
After graduating college, he moved back to Detroit to live with his brother because he had no idea what to do with his future.
John Glick, a potter with a studio, allowed Cole to be his right-hand person and his assistant. After this experience, Cole realized he never wanted to be a potter.
“It’s not for me,” Cole said. “I think he lives a lifestyle that I just learned that I wouldn’t thrive in.”
However, after his apprenticeship, Cole decided to move to Thailand where he could work at a pottery place called Umdang Ceramics in a little village, called Dan Kwian.
The individuals in the village all work together to make the pots that get exported to various countries. Cole said it is not a one-person job.
“The whole village works together,” Cole said.
Cole also looked for places where he could continue working with clay.
He joined AmeriCorps to help troubled students at the McCarthey Alternative Education Center in Crescent City, Calif.
“Once you start setting things on fire, these kids are all of a sudden yours,” Cole said. “You have them. They are intrigued.”
Students decorated the center and set up murals outside of the school.
Following his AmeriCorps volunteerism, Cole decided to join the clay business for two years in Helena, Mont., where he drove a forklift around and packaged clay that would be shipped to schools.
Cole applied to only one graduate school — The University of Nebraska Lincoln, — and was not accepted.
With his rejection letter, Cole was invited to attend the school as a special student, who worked in a studio. He took one class and was critiqued by three faculty members, which would eventually become his references.
“I thought, ‘Well, it sounds like a really good idea,’” Cole said.
The next year, Cole applied to five graduate schools and was accepted into three of them. He chose Ohio University for graduate school because the instructors and the students in the program received the same funding for their tuition.
“Ohio University accepts three people into the program each year, and everyone gets the same funding,” Cole said.
While in graduate school, Cole applied for a program, called International Workshop for the Ceramic Arts at Tokoname, in Japan.
At Tokoname, Cole said he worked in a studio and had an opportunity to not only create his ceramics but also experience the culture firsthand.
In his last year of graduate school, Cole focused on his thesis exhibition called “Elaboratous, which is a combination of three words — apparatus, elaborate and amoretto.
Cole’s exhibit focuses on the interaction between people.
His objects were set up inside the gallery that served food in order to keep people inside the gallery. This way, people would be able to look, use and appreciate his ceramics.
Cole has a special technique he uses when he paints his ceramics.
He looks for patterns that are found in nature and then replicates the patterns on his own work.
Dallas Wooten, ceramics freshman, was among the individuals present at the two-day event.
“I really like his outlook on things, as far as he approaches his pots and why,” Wooten said. “I do a lot of the same things.”
Connie Goodwin, fine arts senior, said she enjoyed ceramics with Brian Harper, assistant professor of fine arts, and, after seeing his post on Facebook about the event, she decided to attend.
“I really liked the way he was going with the patterns from nature,” Goodwin said. “I mainly do painting, and I could see myself pulling that in later on.”
By ANA-MARIJA DRINOVAC
Staff
adrinova@umail.iu.edu
