Marcia Cole Art  

Born in New York City in 1952, Marcia Cole grew up in a family consumed with passion for art and music. A third-generation artist with Eastern European Jewish roots, her family’s creative legacy was shaped by resilience, with her grandfather Jacob Illions bringing many relatives to America after the Holocaust. Her childhood home in coastal Connecticut, was filled with paintings hung floor to ceiling, and became a family legacy of spiritual and creative freedom.

Ms. Cole earned a B.A. in Art from the University of Bridgeport, followed by two master’s degrees in art education and psychology from Columbia University. This academic foundation launched her 45-year career blending art and healing. She worked in therapeutic settings such as The Jewish Guild for the Blind and The Rusk Institute, using art to help individuals overcome physical and emotional challenges. Later transitioning to high school teaching, she excelled in creating collaborations with renowned museums like The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, and The Guggenheim, The Frick Museum, and Museo del Barrio. These partnerships deeply influenced her artistic standards and enriched the experiences of her students.

Her own art journey evolved from plein air landscapes to the abstract explorations, which took center stage. Upon retiring in 2014, Ms. Cole opened her studio, embracing formal painterly elements as conveyors of spiritual, healing and environmental themes, as the driving force of her work. Using encaustic paintings and monotypes, and oil and cold wax, she creates contemplative pieces that reflect her themes with a unique, painterly sense of light and spirit.

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