THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409160197
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 41 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY McWILLIAMS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
`I only paint when I'm depressed,'' the Rev. Milton Cole said matter-of-factly.
The paintings in Cole's portfolio prove that good things can come out of the depths of depression. Cole, interim rector at St. Andrew's By-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Nags Head for the past two years, has concluded his term on the Outer Banks and will soon be departing. He is taking September as a month to read about artists and enjoy the ocean.
Born and raised in Hampton, Va., Cole said he was always fascinated with art. His childhood home featured much original art and he often visited museums. While in his senior year at the College of William and Mary, Cole took his only painting class, a course in watercolors, because the advanced Latin reading course he really wanted to sign up for was full.
Although Cole enjoyed painting, it was 25 years before he tried it again. As a missionary in Guam, he once again drew upon his creative talents. In the village where he served for three and half years, the life of the church revolved around Sunday, and Cole, who thrives on people and activity, found the mid-week lull depressing. ``Guam was a difficult and lonely time in my life,'' he said.
Painting proved satisfying for him, and he returned home in June 1992 with many beautiful, haunting paintings that he packed away. He was asked to do a one-man show at the Fine Arts Museum in Portsmouth, but he ``didn't want to recapitulate that time (in Guam) so I didn't do the show,'' he said. He doesn't know if he'll show the work publicly, but plans to frame the paintings and sell them to benefit the church.
This series is remarkable, in that an inexperienced painter, and an outsider looking in, was able to capture the feel of life in Guam. Working in acrylics, Cole painted such scenes as a woman who'd survived a typhoon looking at her home, a little boy and his dog, women with baskets, people in all aspects of daily life. His favorite is a young girl at a fiesta, eyes shining with happiness. For the most part, Cole painted people, and managed to do a few landscapes too.
Cole's boldness of color can be compared to that of Paul Gauguin, a famous painter enchanted with island life.
He had to paint from memory, as the islanders would not pose; that was considered poor form. Cole painted at times of loneliness, despair or depression because it was a way of reaching into the depths and connecting, he said.
For Cole, there is great joy in being around people, so when he was lonely, painting became a way to connect with the bigger world, he explained. The Guam paintings ``reflect what went on in my life at that particular moment,'' Cole said. ``In a way it was like keeping a journal.'' He also did a series of pen and ink drawings while in Guam, including many nudes. ``Because Guam is in the tropics, there is a different sense of modesty; people willingly expose more of their bodies,'' which provided Cole with subject matter. In school, he had found drawing people very difficult, but when he began thinking in terms of movement and lines, he saw the human form differently.
Recently in Nags Head someone told Cole he needed to get back to painting and he replied, ``I paint when there is an inner need. I don't set out to paint or draw but rather I draw because that's where I am on my journey of life. There's a need to express myself.''
As for where the 50-year-old Cole's journey will lead next, he isn't sure. ``Maybe Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Louisville or Lynchburg,'' he mused. ``But wherever it is, art will be an integral part of my life.''
He wants a permanent setting where he can hang his collection of 250 art pieces. ``I look forward to unpacking them, hanging them and reconnecting with them because art connects with my soul.''
At St. Andrew's, Cole has encouraged the arts, hosting dramatic and musical presentations and art classes. ``Art allows people to look deep inside of themselves and connect with joys, brokenness, emptiness, the heights of life. Coming out of that connection we oftentimes can share our lives with others or be a party to the life of the artist, and that's how we grow. That's how we live life to its fullest.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
``I paint when there is an inner need. I don't set out to paint or
draw but rather I draw because that's where I am on my journey of
life,'' the Rev. Milton Cole says.
by CNB