Carol Coates was born in the mid-west where her content-driven work addressed issues of racism, sexism, antisemitism, and intolerance. Her Masters in Fine Art from the University of Michigan and her lifelong study has served to support her desire to make a difference with her work. She has been a pioneer in experimental photo-based work using both digital and physical continued her graduate studies in drawing, painting, photography, metal fabrication, fine art glass, and ceramics. Her current media includes oil and acrylic paint, photography, and photo-based mixed media.

She was the recipient of two major Creative Artist Grants from Michigan’s State Art Council. She has created grand format Fine Art installations for corporate and public spaces, has had numerous solo and group shows, has won many awards, is in countless collections, and has exhibited internationally and from coast to coast in the US. She is currently represented in Denver, CO and in Los Angeles, CA.

“[she has] created six major ongoing series over time. They include the ‘Perception’, ‘Contact’, ‘Mark-making’, ‘Dissonance’, ‘MindsEye’, and ‘Beginnings’ Series. [Her} themes are humanistic and focus on perception, choice, and issues of social justice. [She] hopes to engage and evoke an emotional and empathic response from the viewer and provide visual food for thought.”

Coates currently resides and works in her heart’s home, Santa Fe, NM.

Statement

“As a sensitive child, I observed or experienced injustice, arrogance, ignorance, intolerance, racism, antisemitism, homophobia, hypocrisy, bullying, a lack of empathy, and little appreciation for diversity. My life’s work is concerned with how we see the world and care for one another.

I create images ranging from classical nudes to quirky surreal portraits and nature-inspired abstractions that hopefully move viewers in positive ways.

I’ve been inspired by Caravaggio, Goya, Rauschenberg, Uelsmann, Viola, Chicago, and a plethora of creative contemporaries. I begin each piece by immersing myself in personal photos and/or physical materials. The pieces evolve as either pure or mixed media paintings.

I’m a post visualizer, having little (if any) idea of where I’m going at the outset. I love the mystery of the process and the challenge of discovering new ways of presenting ideas. I work in series (six so far) . Their common thread is that they are all photo based and all are intended to strike a humanistic cord about the power and wisdom of our perceptions and moment to moment choices in response to life and to one another.

While I love to lose myself in my personal work, I also enjoy creating private, public, and corporate commissions.”