photo by Skip Treglia
Artist Statement
In the late 1990s, I began plein-air landscape painting in northern California. Today I continue the practice on Cape Cod, along with making collage series and writing poems. In painting I try to capture the feeling and light of a moment in nature. When I'm doing collage I concentrate on composition, color and design. As for poetry, I work with the music of words. Probably simpler to focus on just one thing, but for me, all these expressions are related.
About Elaine Cohen
Elaine Cohen, writer and visual artist, grew up in Gloversville, NY. While studying at the University of Chicago she became immersed in Chicago's vibrant music scene and began writing about jazz and contemporary music. Her book with bassist Red Callender, Unfinished Dream: The Musical World of Red Callender, was published by Quartet Books of London in 1985. Her career as a jazz journalist In San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City extended from 1978 throughout the 1990s.
In 1999 she began working as Director of Development & Communications for Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, an established printmaking workshop where she met and was inspired by artists such as Nathan Olivera and Peter Voulkos. She began painting outdoors in the California hills and vineyards with Olaf Palm of Mendocino, and in Sonoma County with Dave Walker and plein-air colorist Camille Przewodek. (Cohen wrote the Foreword for Przewodek's recently published Mondays With Camille.) For the past few years she's been studying with Ed Chesnovich.
Cohen relocated to the Cape in 2003 to marry the artist Skip Treglia. Since then, she has shown paintings in juried and member shows at art centers and libraries throughout Cape Cod, and at the Provincetown Art Association, where she was awarded a Romanos Rizk Memorial Scholarship. Gallery shows include Salt Meadow Gallery, Color Obsession Gallery, West Barnstable Table; solo collage shows at Gateway Center in Santa Monica and Gallery 63 in New Bedford, MA. Recent recognition for writing includes: a residency fellowship from the Atlantic Center for the Arts; Regional Winner 2021/Honorable Mention 2023 in the Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest judged by Marge Piercy; and a 2022 Editor's Choice/2023 Honorable Mention in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards. In 2023 she published her second chapbook of poetry, Midnight Bus to Oaxaca.
Queries regarding paintings/collage and ordering Midnight Bus to Oaxaca, contact Elaine by email at lainecohen@yahoo.com