Phoebe Cole Gordon (July 15, 1955 – January 14, 2017) was an American artist.

Early life

Born Phoebe Cole in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census ...

on July 15, 1955, second child of Nonnie and Paul Cole. As a child, she was not allowed to sit and watch television without doing something her mother deemed "constructive," so she was provided drawing paper and colored pencils. From this, Phoebe learned to doodle while she watched cartoons. She attended South Eugene High School and Oregon Episcopal School (Portland). Her college education in included one year at Colorado University, Boulder. After returning to Eugene she worked at Cole Artist Supply as a picture framer and met her future husband, Doug Wilson. Returning to her studies she graduated from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

in Printmaking in 1981.

Career

Pheobe studied printmaking at the University of Oregon with LaVerne LaVerne Krauss. Her cohort included Jennifer Guske and Libby Unthank. Following her completion of a BFA in Printmaking, Gordon produced multicolored linoleum cuts and sold them to galleries around the United States. Gordon's prints were exhibited widely during the 1980s and 1990s. Soon after, she moved on from printmaking to creating

papier-mâché upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...

altarpieces and dioramas, which were featured in two solo exhibitions in San Francisco in 1990 and 1993. From 2008, she created ceramic sculptures, acknowledging the influence of Mexican folk art and making Day of the Dead pieces. Her works are held in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Portland Art Museum.

References

External links

* Phoebe Cole's works of art: *
The Famous Fandango
(1981), screenprint on paper (Smithsonian American Art Museum) *
Shu Shu Wah
(1984), color linocut on paper (Smithsonian American Art Museum) *
Phoebe (Cole) Gordon & Renée Manford: Works on Display
(Clay Space Eugene) *** Phoebe Gordon Artist Profile (Clay Space Eugene)
Phoebe Cole Gordon Obituary
published in Eugene Register-Guard on February 12, 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Phoebe 1955 births 2017 deaths Ceramists from Oregon University of Oregon alumni Artists from Eugene, Oregon 20th-century American ceramists 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American women artists American women printmakers American women ceramists