“I intuitively choose placement in my paintings. Layering happens as I move through the creative process taking risks as I go. I am gathering the pieces of a puzzle and putting them into place without being held to a pre-conceived image but allowing the pieces to be juggled until finally they find a comfortable home. The process is complete when I feel most satisfied. Creating is what I do, it is what I love – it is what life is all about.”

Irene Cole’s childhood was spent in Ringwood, a small town in northern NJ that is nestled in the hills among numerous lakes and state parks. Taking art classes from a local art association was a favorite summer activity as a child and she continued focusing her attention on art throughout her schooling. She was awarded Promising Young Artist by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts in 1981. Cole majored in graphic design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, NY, earning an Associate’s degree in 1984, and more than twenty years later earned a Bachelor’s degree in painting from Skidmore College, NY.

For ten years she worked as a graphic designer/art director in New York City and then, as a married mother of two, made Manchester, Vermont her home where graphic design continues to be a part of what she does, but painting remains a main focus. Cole has had solo exhibitions at the Open Studio Tour and at Life After Dark, Manchester, VT, and the Case Gallery, Skidmore College, NY. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions at the Southern Vermont Arts Center as well as the Exhibition at Grafton, Grafton, VT and Amsterdam Whitney International Fine Art, Inc. in New York, NY.

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