Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Local artist Donald Cole is planning on opening an art studio this summer to showcase his work, Stone Originals. Cole specializes in stone and beach glass wall art, creating three-dimensional illuminated sconces that cast subtle artistic illumination in a dark room.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Local artist Donald Cole shows one of the many pieces of stone and beach glass wall art he has created over the years. Cole is looking to open his art studio this summer, which will be available to the public by appointment.
“For the lat 12 years, I’ve been fine tuning my formula,” Cole explained. “If you think of a funnel, I’ve taken all of this information and starting off with something basic, it’s evolved to what you see here,” he said gesturing to the sconce of a cabin that he had created using blue, yellow, and red beach glass accented with stone protruding from a weathered piece of barn board..
“I’m now at the point where I started with something vague and grew it to the point where I can show people how to create similar pieces. I’ve created forms and techniques to go with the art, and I could make an instructional DVD showing adults and children how to make their own piece.”
Most of the work Cole has sold has been local, but he has sent out work that is on display in places as far away as Chicago and New York.
Recently, he’s been working on updating his Web page, StoneOriginals.net, updating his latest artwork. Cole has created various pieces that he’s created, including a butterfly, dragonfly, angel, and a phoenix.
Illuminating his work are LED tea lights, which have allowed him certain liberties previously unobtainable by working with candles.
“Using LED tea lights has really freed me up quite a bit,” Cole said. “Before, I always had to worry about the pieces providing enough oxygen for the flame and worrying about everything that was over the candle, but now I can have everything covered with any shape.”
“I think I have something unique here,” he added.
Cole derives most of his inspiration from nature — his love of the ocean and his love of the nature here in northern Maine.
“I first started incorporating beach glass into my work after the daughters of a friend of mine were up at the lakes and they collected all this beach glass,” he said. “I hadn’t done much with beach glass before, but they gave me all these pieces, and I had been working with candle previously, and so I made a couple of vague shapes with the beach glass. Since then, I’ve learned how to design a piece and shape it among many other things,” Cole added.
“The name of the business is Stone Originals because I couldn’t make the same piece twice if I wanted to,” he explained. “The concept would be the same, but the subtleties of the materials and the little details make of a piece make it unique.”
More information regarding his work can be found online at StoneOriginals.net.
