Corie J. Cole
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coriejcole.bsky.social
Corie J. Cole
@coriejcole.bsky.social
1.7K followers 2.1K following 220 posts
Lefty KY artist, ceramicist, illustrator/author, Direct Support Professional, organic gardener.
"36 Shots of Pikes Peak" on display in the Art of the Southwest collection of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.
More work here: www.coriejcole.com
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coriejcole.bsky.social
Text on trans flag colors reads: AUTHORITARIAN FASCISTS FUNDAMENTALLY DON’T LIKE TRANS PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY DON’T FIT NEATLY IN THEIR “DOMESTIC SERVANT AND BROOD MARE” or “RULER OF HOUSEHOLD/ CANNON FODDER” CATEGORIES. IF PEOPLE DON’T FIT NEATLY IN THOSE TWO CATEGORIES THEN FOLKS START TO QUESTION WHETHER THEY’RE ONLY GOOD FOR PUMPING OUT BABIES TO SEND OUT INTO THE STREET AND GET SHOT. THE WHOLE SYSTEM BREAKS DOWN IF PEOPLE QUESTION IT. THAT’S WHY TRANS PEOPLE ARE TARGETS, EMPATHY IS A DISORDER, AND WHY REPUBLICANS ARE DISMANTLING LAWS PROTECTING WOMEN FROM DOMESTIC ABUSE. PUTIN DID IT. ORBAN DID IT. NOW PROJECT 2025 IS TARGETING THE BIGGEST DEMOCRACY OF ALL. THEY DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT TRANS PEOPLE, EXCEPT AS A USEFUL BOOGEYMAN. THEY CARE ABOUT CONTROL. THEY WANT A CIVIL WAR BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT AN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY ANYMORE.
September 12, 2025 at 1:22 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
A beautiful, thoughtful review of American Weather from Artists' Book Reviews. artistsbookreviews.com
A pair of hands hold open a small book with a two page spread of four black and white painted illustrations on tile. The paintings depict, in part, the process of smithing a gun barrel into a garden tool and lathing the handle from a gun stock.
August 22, 2025 at 6:10 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
NO KINGS.
June 14, 2025 at 12:00 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
Hello my friends in Asian American communities, HBCUs, Tribal communities, Hispanic serving institutions-- have y'all felt any of the purported benefits coming to you since they're doing away with the NEA grants? Keep me posted when those dollars start rolling in, k?
Text reads: Dear [---] This is to inform you that the above referenced National Endowment for the Arts award has been terminated, effective May 31, 2025. The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President. Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities. The NEA will now prioritize projects that elevate the Nation’s HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities, assist with disaster recovery, foster skilled trade jobs, make America healthy again, support the military and veterans, support Tribal communities, make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful, and support the economic development of Asian American communities. Funding is being allocated in a new direction in furtherance of the Administration’s agenda. Your project, as noted below, unfortunately does not align with these priorities: Purpose: To support the publication and promotion of books of poetry and hybrid prose. The agency issued an award to your organization, subject to you agreeing to and accepting certain terms and conditions. You accepted the offer of funding, which was subject to the General Terms and Conditions (GTCs) that apply to all NEA awards. Per your award’s GTCs, the National Endowment for the Arts may terminate a federal award to the greatest extent authorized by law if an award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities. These provisions were clearly and unambiguously specified, as required by 2 CFR 200.340(b), and are consistent with the requirements of 2 CFR 200.340(a)(4), and the NEA’s authorizing statute at 20 USC 954 and 959. Accordingly, because your project no longer effectuates agency priorities, the agency is exercising its ability to
May 8, 2025 at 1:01 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
The aforementioned broette:
April 20, 2025 at 1:09 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
Sunrise, sunset. The Clay Studio's link to my sunset brooches is up now. I wanted to show my Bro-ette with the set, but they didn't take that entry, for some reason. ;)

#porcelain #art #clayart #ceramicart #ceramicpainting #painting #sunset #artjewelry

public.theclaystudio.org/public/shop/...
April 20, 2025 at 1:07 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
A little break from the news cycle. Two of my porcelain sunset brooches are for sale at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. Check out the whole Small Favors show-- always a fun bunch of little pieces.

public.theclaystudio.org/public/shop/...
A rectangular porcelain brooch with rounded edges, hand painted with a sunset with trees in silhouette against a blue and turquoise sky with gestural, thin orange, yellow, pink and gray clouds.
April 11, 2025 at 6:14 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
Ok bluesky science folx. I am mystified. What would make this little doodle? Crusty like a lichen. It's on the butt end of an untreated 2X4 that is part of my bramble trellis. A collaboration between an insect and a fungus? #fungus #lichen #insects #science #entomology #gardening
A photo of the end of a weathered two by four board. On the end is a mark that looks like a stretched out slinky or coil of concentric circles. Like a doodle made by a human, but not. The mark is off-white and appears crusted and flaky. The mark runs most of the length of the butt end, so it's about 3 inches wide by about half an inch tall. The grain of the wood is visible, but less so as the wood has darkened with weather exposure, making the contrast of the "doodle" all the more visible.
March 24, 2025 at 8:12 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
Drag has always been a thing, y'all. Going through my parents' stuff, I found photos my paternal grandmother took around 1916 of friends goofing around and posing in suits in a stone quarry. #oldphotos #drag
Four photos dated 1916 of women dressed in men's clothing-- pants, ties, three piece suits and hats in a stone quarry. One is wearing men's shoes and a full three piece suit with a folded handkerchief and hat, sitting on a cut shelf of limestone in a quarry. Some photos are of three women and two are of one. One woman holds a wheel barrow. All are either smiling or feigning seriousness. More photos from 1916 of women in drag in a stone quarry. One holds a pick axe and in two of the photos they are wearing fake moustaches. In one picture they are shaking hands and looking at the camera. They are posing and posturing like men in a comic and ironic, though understated way. Two women in three piece suits pose in a stone quarry. A closeup of three women in wearing drag in a stone quarry in 1916.
March 17, 2025 at 5:02 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
White text on black background reading "Dear Ukraine, Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Panama, EU. We're sorry. We're horrified.
March 5, 2025 at 1:22 AM
coriejcole.bsky.social
Karl in a swamp of his own creation. (made this in 2007.)
An unglazed miniature porcelain portrait of Karl Rove from 2007. He is wearing wire glasses and has the body of a frog, with pads on his hands and toes. His toes stick out of some presumed water in which he is sitting on an Ionic column, which is sinking in the water and distorted under Rove's weight. He has a placid expression on his face and he lightly touches his belly with his left hand. The piece measures approx 3.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 inches.
March 1, 2025 at 3:02 AM
coriejcole.bsky.social
Another Vlad portrait done in 2006 as a glaze test. #12 in 20 days/20 clays. 7 inches high-- or maybe smaller. #art #politicalart #putin #contemporaryceramics #ceramicart #clayart #oligarchs
An abstracted porcelain figurine portrait of a younger Vladimir Putin with a ushanka fur hat. His body is abstracted, but his face is rendered in accurate detail. He only has a left arm which is extended and held up at almost a 90 degree angle from the ground, with a red mitten, palm up. His legs are truncated and undefined and he has a disembodied hand underneath his extended arm, as if he's being measured for a suit. His chin is pointed slightly down and his gaze is slightly off to the left, his face serious and impassive. He is wearing a red tie that is only partially painted red and there are numbers which are partially indistinct or ascemic, counting from 1 and 2 at the top, and the rest are unclear. His suit is a mottled blue and gray with patched of black and purple, and the glaze appears to be painted in layers like an abstract painting.
February 25, 2025 at 3:38 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
The collection that owns this guy posted a photo from above, so it's interesting to see him from a different angle after all these years. Haven't seen him in person since 2005.
www.hieronymusobjects.com/putin-corie-...
A photo of a figurine of Vladimir Putin. The figurine is porcelain with a monochrome/black and white glaze except for a red spot in his hand. Putin wears a matte black suit and shoes with spats. His left hand is cupped slightly over his right, and he is either covering or uncovering the vivid red spot. He has a dark but impassive facial expression.
February 25, 2025 at 1:37 AM
coriejcole.bsky.social
So I guess if Putin's our new Pres, then the North Koreans are our allies? This is a figurine I made in 2005, "How to Stop Worrying and Love Kim Jong." #10 in my 20 Clays & 20 Days. Bisqued porcelain with low fire glazes. 11.5" high. #art #contemporaryceramics #clayart #ceramics #resist
A glazed figurine of Kim Jong Il dressed in a yellow ochre jumpsuit and cowboy boots, tossing his left arm in the air while holding a cowboy hat. He is sitting astraddle a teardrop shaped nuclear bomb, painted olive green with black triangles, and yellow and red decals. The position in which he is sitting is a pastiche of one of the final scenes from the movie Dr. Strangelove when Major T.J. "King" Kong rides the bomb as it is dropped. This bomb appears to be more like a kid's amusement ride, or like a mechanical bull.
February 23, 2025 at 2:41 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
20 days & 20 Clays #10. Way back in the Oldies files, "The Good Shepherd" 2004, cone 10 unglazed porcelain. Intended to be ironic, it's funny (or very unfunny) how the exponential curve of conservatism changes meanings. #contemporaryceramics #contemporaryclay #clayart #sculpture #Reagan #art #clay
A photo of a white porcelain figurine of Ronald Reagan sitting on a plinth holding up a shepherd's staff or crook in his right hand. With his left hand he is cradling or holding the back haunches of a lamb, sitting in his lap. Reagan is smiling; the image of his face is modeled from a famous photo of him in which he is dressed as a cowboy and resembles the Marlboro Man of late mid-century ads for cigarettes. He is dressed in a white cloak or gown with skirts that hang just above his bare knees. His feet are bare and he crosses his right foot over his left just slightly, and his posture is care-free and informal, like a kid sitting in a tall chair where his legs are dangling. The lamb is small and cat-like and shorn except for his head and legs and is holding his head up with a calm expression on his face and one front leg dangling comfortably over Reagan's loincloth.
February 17, 2025 at 2:32 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
20 Days & 20 Clays # 9. A book cover illustration I made for a chapbook of epistolary poetry by Bernadette Mayer and Laynie Browne. Ceramic plates with underglaze paintings and mixed media. #artistbooks #smallpress #furtherotherbookworks #clayart #contemporaryceramics #contemporaryclay #poetry
A spread, like a party tray made of many hexagonal porcelain plates clustered together like cells in a honeycomb, with 3 rows of hexagons. On the plates are different objects and illustrations. On the top left appears to be a honey stain and a small spoon with honey straddling two plates. Next to the right is a diagram of an organic molecule with an oyster cracker on top of one of the hexagonal carbon rings. The dish immediately to the right of that contains a hexagonal piece of honeycomb in a pool of honey. Right of that dish is a piece of cut paper with the words "the complete works of" . To the right of that is a dish that is all black with a photoreal illustration of a diatom in shades of gray. The diatom is round, spiky, skeletal, fulll of holes, and radially symmetrical. The next row down starts on the left with a small stack of hexagonal multigrain crackers. Next to that is a dish with two pieces of paper, one folded like an accordion and the other showing another organic molecule, labeled with a name that is partially obscured. Next to the right, two plates with diagrams of the geometry of a honeycomb cell are painted in glaze. To the right of that, the continuance of the title of the book, "Apis Mellifera" is typed on two slips of paper, with a small laser printed slice of pizza next to them. Next row starts with a slip of paper with a diatom printed on it, a black gloss dish with a pile of oyster crackers, a pepperoni pizza painted in black and white, another organic molecule with oyster crackers and the bottom right has one oyster cracker with the text :"b. mayer & laynie b.
February 15, 2025 at 3:26 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
How about an artist book reading series that my spouse co-organizes? Quarterly artist book readings on Zoom. Open calls to read. Link below in thread is for their Gofundme containing info about the series. Artists reading and showing their own creations! Free! #artistbooks #art #booksky #bookarts
Blue background poster with orange and yellow accents. Reads: The S APOSTROPHE S ARTIST BOOK READINGS need your support for Season 2! Donate through the link in bio. --Editorial note-- this poster was designed for Instagram, hence the "link in bio"
February 14, 2025 at 1:15 AM
coriejcole.bsky.social
20 Days / 20 Clays #8. This glaze painting is on view at The Clay Studio of Missoula in "It's the Little Things." Very happy that I won Beth Lo's juror's merit award for it. Go check it out on the website along with all the other lovely little pieces. Link below. #ceramicart #clayart #underglaze
A highly detailed photo realistic black and white painting on an irregularly shaped ceramic tile with curved and wavy edges. The painting is 5 inches wide by 6 inches tall and the image is painted all the way up to the edges, except in one corner which is left either unfinished, or it is in bright sunlight. A high-contrast image of a garden bed with zinnias in strong sunlight. One plant on the left appears to have smaller flowers, which are brightly illuminated in the sun, and the petals are just barely visible/defined in the bright sunlight. The ribbing in the leaves below is very distinct and there are holes in some of the leaves where insects have chewed them. The zinnia on the right appears to have two-tone petals with dark centers and white edges. Underneath the zinnias on the ground is a small hand trowel with dirt still in the spade and a few leaves of grass under the handle. On the handle an olive branch design is burned into the wood. The dirt has vines or roots and stems of plants carved out of the black background using a sgrafitto method of carving off the top layer of glaze to show the white clay beneath. A dark gray is then painted over the vines to illustrate that they are in shadow. This image is the final image in a series of 16 illustrations from the book American Weather, by Mary Margaret Alvarado, with images by Corie J. Cole, published by NewLights Press, 2024.
February 11, 2025 at 4:40 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
A photo of a sunset with dark gray clouds in the foreground against a backdrop of turquoise fading to orange at the horizon. Bare trees are silhouetted against the sky. The text reads "The Evangelicals in power want the end times. Don't go along for the ride."
February 11, 2025 at 3:04 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
Here's a screencap of some of the works from the show. #ceramicart #clayart #underglaze #claystudioofmissoula
A screen capture of an online gallery of small scale ceramic works taking many different forms and styles, from small sculpture to vessels.
February 10, 2025 at 9:21 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
#7 in 20 days & 20 clays. My little figurine set where Thom Yorke, Ralph Nader and Mr. Spock are attempting a time travel intervention against George W. Bush in full Colonial garb. #clayart #ceramics #sculpture #porcelain #protestart
A detail shot of a little porcelain landscape, glazed in full color with 3 figurines down on all fours over a little porcelain grassy hill, hiding behind shrubs. The figures are all dressed like the cast of the original Star Trek. Ralph Nader is "Bones," Thom Yorke is dressed in yellow-gold like Captain Kirk, and Mr. Spock, in blue, plays himself. Mr. Spock is pointing at the phaser that Yorke holds in his hand, indicating, we presume, how to set it properly to fire it. Nader sits behind Yorke and is looking ahead, keeping watch. A realistically rendered porcelain figurine of George W. Bush, with a British Colonial red coat, blue waistcoat and purple leggings stands atop a tiny landscape on a pedestal. His right, black booted foot stands atop a tree stump, and he has a tiny hatchet in his left hand. A serpent coils at the base of the stump. He is tucking or withdrawing his right hand from inside his waistcoat, in the manner in which Napoleon Bonaparte is depicted in many portraits from the French Revolution. Behind the figurine of Bush is a landscape diorama, also rendered in porcelain, with a little grassy hill with a stream and 3 figures hiding in the bushes, described in the text from the detail.
February 6, 2025 at 5:15 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
#6 of 20 days & 20 clays. Did this portrait of Putin, entitled "Containment" for my BFA thesis waaay back in 2005. Glazed porcelain. 11.5 inches tall. Pre Botox, before his Stay-Puft marshmallow era. What's in his hand? #sculpture #putin #clayart #ceramicart #politicalart #portrait
An image of a sculpture of Vladimir Putin. His face is younger, as the piece is from 2005. He looks directly into the camera with a serious poker face-- his expression is unreadable. He is glazed in monochrome-- blacks, whites and grays except for a bright, saturated red spot, slightly cupped in his right hand. He is either lifting or closing his left hand on top of his right, to either show or hide the red. He is wearing a black suit with a blackened flag lapel pin and a gray sweater underneath.
February 4, 2025 at 3:30 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
#5 in 20 days & 20 clays. My latest Broette! This is a functional barrette, BTW. Porcelain with hand painted underglaze. 1.75 x 3.75 inches. #bro #art #broettes #barrettes #clayart #politicalart #protestart #underglazepainting #ceramicart
A porcelain barrette painted with 3 monochrome faces-- floating heads amongst a background of a distorted and shredding US flag. From left to right, a picture of Dana White has a red label with his name "WHITE" in all caps in the UFC logo typface. He has an impassive and serious expression and he is a very average looking man with a shaved head. Next to him is ROGAN, written in the typeface of the neon sign of the Joe Rogan show. The name tag reading "Rogan" is underneath the black and white painting of Joe Rogan, and he is wearing his trademark headset, is bald, and has a look of surprise on his face. On the right, with his name label partiallly covering his bald forehead, reading "BOY" is Batboy, the fictional character invented for tabloids in the early 1990's. Batboy is depicted with his trademark scream into the void with gaping mouth, big eyes with long eyelashes, pointy ears and pointed teeth. There is blood coming out of Batboy's ears which seems to run into the red stripes of the US flag, which also appears to be bleeding out of is usual neat stripes.
February 3, 2025 at 2:06 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
#4 of 20 days / 20 clays. #37 in my "36 Shots of Pikes Peak" series. (I made 3 extra to sell outside of the original 36.) More about the larger set to follow. Hand painted underglaze on midfire white stoneware. 2017. #clayart #ceramics #underglaze #painting #coloradosprings #pikespeak #tavamountain
A hand holds a small wheel-thrown cup with a smooth surface painted with a monochrome grayscale landscape of a K-mart parking lot against the backdrop of Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs. A black truck is in the foreground of the painting, and more parked cars and light poles punctuate the lot. Cracks and microsealing show in the pavement. The mountains are dark gray and somewhat indistinct in the background and the sky and clouds, which are also gray but broken and take up nearly half of the painting. The image bends around the side of the cup.
February 2, 2025 at 5:20 PM
coriejcole.bsky.social
Day 3 of 20 days & 20 clays. I would post this one every day in protest if we weren't all so tired of looking at him already. #2 in my Swingin' Dicks series, Swingin' Don the Con. Mid fire porcelain, slips and glaze. 2024. 3.75"h. Buckle up, everybody. #clayart #trump #art #politicalart #ceramics
A christmas ornament of Donald Trump in an orange jumpsuit, his arms behind him, wearing a red tie and black polished shoes. His complexion is a mottled orange with pinkish patches and he has an angry expression on his face. He is hanging from a red ribbon ornament hanger which is threaded through a hole in the back of his white collar. A flap of skin is pushed up around his chin from the front of his collar, giving him a frog-like appearance. Beneath his lapel is a serial number reading 03411.
February 1, 2025 at 1:02 PM