Barbara Cole Explained

Barbara Cole
Birth Date:	1955
Birth Place:	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Education:	Diploma in Visual Arts, Sheridan CollegeDiploma in Visual Arts, Alberta College of ArtMFA in Sculpture and Textiles, California College of Arts and Crafts, 1982
Known For:	Artist, educator, and curator
Website:	https://www.coleprojects.ca

Barbara Cole (b. 1955) is a Canadian curator, artist, educator, and curatorial consultant in public art. She is the founder of Other Sights for Artists' Projects and principal of Cole Projects.

Background

Cole was born in Hamilton, Ontario. She received a Diploma in Visual Arts from Sheridan College, and a Diploma in Visual Arts from the Alberta College of Art.^[1] In 1982, she received her MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts.

Cole taught at Emily Carr University of Art and Design from 1984 to 1999, and worked as a consultant to the City of Vancouver's Public Art Program from 1999 to 2004. In 2005 she formed Cole Projects, a public art consulting firm, and founded Other Sights for Artists' Projects, a non-profit arts organization. From 2017 to 2023, Cole was the Curator of Outdoor Art for the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia.

In 2007, Cole was awarded the Mayor's Arts Award for her contributions to public art in Vancouver, British Columbia.^[2]

In 2013, she was a curatorial resident at ZK/U Center for Art and Urbanistics in Berlin, Germany.^[3]

Curatorial Practice

Other Sights for Artists' Projects

In 2005, Cole founded Other Sights for Artists' Projects (Other Sights), a non-profit arts collective that supports temporary public art projects, assisting with curation, project management, delivery and promotion.^[4] She has been a member of the production team since 2014.

Other Sights’ Curatorial Projects

• Blue Cabin Floating Artist Residency. Collaboration with grunt gallery and C3 (Creative Cultural Collaborations). 2014-present.^[5]
• Sovereign Waterways. Calvin Charlie-Dawson/Ts'kanchtn, Chase Gray, Jonas Jones. Guest curators Host Consulting. 2022-2024.^[6]
• Mobility Device. Carmen Papalia and the Carnival Band. 2021.^[7]
• Flood (Displaced Horizon). Howard Hursuliak and Kyle Juron. 2020.^[8]
• Coastal Camera Obscura. Donald Lawrence. 2017.^[9]
• The Inaugural Project. Other Sights Collective. Commissioned by the Vancouver Art Gallery. 2016.^[10]
• Slow Dirt. Other Sights' producer team. 2015.^[11]
• Monument to Mysterious Fires. Other Sights' producer team. 2015.^[12]
• Deadhead. Cedric, Nathan, and Jim Bomford. 2014.^[13]
• I Know What I Want. Other Sights' producer team. 2013.^[14]
• Nothing Happens in Good Weather. Collaboration with Instant Coffee and the South Hill BIA Public Art Committee. 2011-2013.^[15]
• Grow. Holly Schmidt. 2011.^[16]

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery

Cole was the Curator of Outdoor Art at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia from 2017 to 2023, where she oversaw the University's outdoor art collection in partnership with the University Art Committee (UAC). Cole and the UAC shifted the focus of UBC's outdoor art collection towards artist residencies and commissioning site-specific works that engage with UBC's history and location on the unceded, traditional and ancestral territories of the Musqueam (šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ) First Nation.^[17]

In an interview with University Affairs magazine, Cole described her curatorial projects at UBC as working to "interrogate the circumstances of a work’s creation, encourage viewers to interact with the site of an artwork and to consider the political nuances of public space."

Notable projects during this period include:

• Fireweeds Fields (2019-2024), a temporary public art project that was part of Vegetal Encounters, Holly Schmidt's artist residency in the Outdoor Art Program, which transformed the Belkin’s lawns into a fireweed meadow. Schmidt has spoken on her interest in the fireweed's capacity to adapt and grow after major environmental disturbances, bringing to mind "notions of healing, care and the resurgence of life, all of which take on heightened importance in the midst of the climate emergency and the need for climate justice.”^[18] The project was a collaboration between the Belkin, the Sustainability Initiative and the Botanical Garden’s Horticulture Training Program at UBC.^[19]
• Sonic Responses (2020), a series of site-specific performances by faculty and student performers from UBC's School of Music, which explored the shuttered University's outdoor spaces during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was led in collaboration with David Metzer, Professor of Musicology and Chair of the University Art Committee, and Judith Valerie Engel, a doctoral candidate in piano performance.^[20]

She directed the installation of The Shadow (2018) by Esther Shalev-Gerz^[21] and led the sitings and installations of donations to the Outdoor Art collection including Stela I and Stela II (1963) by Elza Mayhew and θəʔit, (2023) by Kayám̓ Richard Campbell and James Hart 7idansuu (Edenshaw), a carved and cast bronze disc at the base of the Reconciliation Pole: Honouring a Time Before, During and After Canada’s Indian Residential Schools (2015-17).^[22] In addition, she oversaw the restoration and re-location of Robert Murray’s Cumbria (1966-67/1995)^[23] and Untitled (Symbols for Education) (1958) by Patricia and Lionel Thomas.^[24]

References

1. Book: Henry, Karen . An Open Book . Surrey Art Gallery . 2018 . 978-0-92018-183-6 . 1–5 . Barbara Cole: Mending at the expense of the sides.
2. Web site: 2011-09-29 . Mayor's Arts Awards announced . 2024-08-14 . The Georgia Straight . en.
3. Web site: 2013-10-01 . Barbara Cole - Fellows - ZK/U Berlin . 2024-08-14 . www.zku-berlin.org . en.
4. Web site: other sights » About . 2024-09-18 . othersights.ca.
5. Web site: 2019-08-21 . Indigenous weavers bring Blue Cabin Floating Artist Residency to life . 2024-08-15 . The Georgia Straight . en.
6. Web site: other sights » SOVEREIGN WATERWAYS . 2024-08-15 . othersights.ca.
7. Web site: other sights » MOBILITY DEVICE . 2024-08-15 . othersights.ca.
8. Web site: 2020-02-26 . FLOOD (Displaced Horizon) - Capture Photography Festival . 2024-08-15 . en-CA.
9. Web site: other sights » Coastal Camera Obscura . 2024-08-15 . othersights.ca.
10. Web site: other sights » The Larwill Park Site Inaugural Project . 2024-08-15 . othersights.ca.
11. Web site: other sights » Slow Dirt . 2024-08-15 . othersights.ca.
12. Web site: 2015-03-18 . Pattison Outdoor Billboards: Monument to Mysterious Fires - Capture Photography Festival . 2024-08-15 . en-CA.
13. News: Griffin . Kevin . July 14, 2014 . Deadhead, dead ahead: improvisational architecture on the water . August 15, 2024 . Vancouver Sun.
14. Web site: other sights » I Know What I Want: Open Studio . 2024-08-15 . othersights.ca.
15. Web site: other sights » Instant Coffee: Nothing Happens in Good Weather . 2024-08-15 . othersights.ca.
16. Book: Schmidt . Holly . Grow: DIY manual . Cole . Barbara . Cutler . Randy Lee . McNaughton . Alexander . Pauker . Magnolia . Other Sights for Artists' Projects . 2014 . 9780986681929 . Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
17. Web site: How a new curator at UBC is revitalizing familiar spaces on campus . 2024-08-15 . University Affairs . en-US.
18. Web site: Mushet . Mark . 2021-05-31 . Fireweed Fields . 2024-08-15 . Galleries West . en-ca.
19. Web site: 2021-05-10 . Holly Schmidt: Fireweed Fields . 2024-08-15 . sustain.ubc.ca.
20. Web site: Tyner . Jana . 2020-06-16 . Sonic Responses . 2024-08-15 . Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery . en-CA.
21. News: Griffin . Kevin . October 12, 2017 . ART SEEN: The Shadow that came for a visit to the University of B.C. . August 15, 2024 . Vancouver Sun.
22. Web site: Tyner . Jana . 2021-12-07 . Outdoor Art: Winter 2021 . 2024-08-15 . Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery . en-CA.
23. Web site: Tyner . Jana . 2018-11-14 . Outdoor Art: Fall 2018 . 2024-08-15 . Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery . en-CA.
24. Web site: Castaneda . Camila . "Symbols for Education" mural to be removed and restored . 2024-08-15 . The Ubyssey . en.