Doug Cole
Doug Cole of Sumner, Ia.
Following a thirty-three year career as a secondary art instructor with the Sumner, Ia. Community School District, Doug Cole established Cole Art Pottery in Sumner in 2000. Cole specializes in one of a kind wheel-thrown and electric fired, cone six functional and decorative pottery. His pottery philosophy centers around the durability and endless designing options that stoneware clay provides along with the physical and tactile challenges of this medium. Cole’s clay experimentation has evolved into a unique line of pottery that encompasses the use of carved natural clay and soil slips that are applied to pottery surfaces in decorative motifs. These slips are self-excavated from number of locations in the upper midwest, the southwest and his own backyard. Cole also created “earthy” forms that emphasize rubbed iron-oxide surfaces with a variety of randomly applied poured and dripped glaze patterns.