{"id":6016,"date":"2018-02-22T08:18:28","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T13:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=6016"},"modified":"2018-02-22T08:20:09","modified_gmt":"2018-02-22T13:20:09","slug":"allison-cole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/02\/22\/allison-cole\/","title":{"rendered":"In \u2018Lost Together,\u2019 Allison Cole Paints Her Journey To Connect With Her Autistic Son"},"content":{"rendered":"

The titles of the paintings in Providence artist Allison Cole<\/a>\u2019s exhibition \u201cLost Together\u201d<\/a> in the Reading Room at AS220\u2019s Project Space gallery in Providence through Feb. 24 begin to tell a story.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I Come In.\u201d \u201cHead Above Water.\u201d \u201cI Know You\u2019re In There.\u201d \u201cI Love You As You Are.\u201d<\/p>\n

They are cartoony jungle scenes in flat greens and oranges and reds and blues depicting Cole looking for her 2-year-old son Wilder, who pops up among the foliage as a small smiling face topped with curly blonde hair. They seem suffused with a mother’s love.<\/p>\n

\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole “Love You As You Are,” 2018, acrylic on board. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe started early intervention services at 18 months because he was not talking and he struggled with eye contact and he struggled with sleep,\u201d Cole says. Then last July, right before Cole began working on the paintings for the show, Wilder was diagnosed with autism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of really hit and I thought maybe I should just do pieces about this,\u201d Cole says. \u201cIt was all about my journey of learning about autism and confronting my preconceived notions and how varied it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is kind of my imagining of where Wilder is and how we can find him, but also accepting who he is,\u201d Cole says. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to change him. \u2026 It doesn\u2019t have to be negative. Accepting it as part of his personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activism by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole “I Know You’re In There,” 2017, acrylic on board. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cole grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, then moved to Rhode Island to study printmaking at Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 2003. (She now teaches illustration and pattern design at RISD.) She\u2019s gone on to have a thriving career as an illustrator. She\u2019s designed bright cute textile patterns, greeting cards for American Greetings, tote bags, drink bottles, journals, illustrations for publications including the Washington Post, gift cards for Target. Her designs for children\u2019s bedding, an alphabet rug, and a \u201cHead in the Clouds\u201d throw pillow can be found in Crate & Barrel\u2019s The Land of Nod children\u2019s stores across the land.<\/p>\n

\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe go on a lot of walks with Wilder. We took this really beautiful walk with Wilder at the time of his diagnosis\u201d at a farm in Bristol, Rhode Island, Cole says. \u201cYou\u2019re in the woods, but you\u2019re also on the water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole took photographs of the landscape and began cartooning them, abstracting them into 8-inch square paintings. \u201cThis one [exhibition] felt like it was okay to be really personal because it\u2019s Providence,\u201d Cole says. It\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

Cole usually paints small gouaches (a form of opaque watercolor) or works digitally. \u201cI hadn\u2019t painted large on canvas for a super long time, maybe since RISD,\u201d she says. Cole sketched out the paintings in Photoshop. \u201cIt was really freeing to do these fast, messy sketches and then paint them for real,\u201d she says. She printed out sketches and traced then onto the boards to paint. She mixed up a selection of colors in jars that she used in each of the paintings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted this to have a really cohesive feel. So when you walked into the room, you feel they all go together. And it was one less decision to make,\u201d Cole says. \u201cI like that it\u2019s in the small room and the pieces are large and to be immersed in the environment. \u2026 I think it\u2019s clear in the room that there\u2019s a narrative going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole’s studio in her Providence home. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to figure out a way in there. That\u2019s a lot of the training we\u2019ve gone through,\u201d Cole says. \u201cA lot of the best advice we\u2019ve gotten is meet your child where they are, on their terms. \u2026 It\u2019s really helped him in the last few months, us trying to change ourselves instead of trying to change him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole says, \u201cI feel like in the beginning I was so uninformed. I feel like I didn\u2019t understand so many things. It was an interesting process to go through with painting as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole “Head Above Water,” 2017, acrylic on board. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some autistic children have outbursts and other behavioral issues. \u201cWe\u2019re really lucky. Wilder is not a kid like that. And that was one of our preconceived notions,\u201d Cole says. \u201cWilder is happy and super giggly and really fun to be around. He does struggle with social communication and he\u2019s nonverbal, he doesn\u2019t speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started these paintings, we were like, \u2018How do we reach him.\u2019 Now it\u2019s getting there. So it\u2019s hopeful. I hope these paintings feel hopeful or positive,\u201d Cole says. \u201cWe really want Wilder to be able to communicate, whether it\u2019s with words or pictures or signing, to lessen his frustrations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole “Can I Come In,” 2018, acrylic on board. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cole says, \u201cWe probably have four appointments a week and ABA [applied behavioral analysis therapy] every day. He goes to daycare and one day a week he\u2019s at home for OT [occupational therapy], speech therapist and a nutritionist. \u2026 He works so hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Applied behavioral analysis therapy has \u201chelped him a lot. So he\u2019s started to communicate with pictures.\u201d She says he struggles less with meeting new people and with transitions.<\/p>\n

What does Wilder think of the paintings? \u201cHe loved them,\u201d Cole says. \u201cIt was really funny, he would come down here and watch me paint. He\u2019d try to steal my brushes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he know the paintings are about him? \u201cI don\u2019t think so. He doesn\u2019t have that level of communication or awareness yet,\u201d Cole says. \u201cWe know he understands more than\u201d he can express. \u201cBut he can\u2019t speak. \u2026 They kind of absorb a lot and it\u2019s hard to tell what they\u2019re getting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activism by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole “Small Moment 1,” 2018, acrylic on board. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole “Different Perspective 4,” 2018, acrylic on board. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole “Different Perspective 3,” 2018, acrylic on board. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole “Different Perspective 2,” 2018, acrylic on board. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole “Different Perspective 1,” 2018, acrylic on board. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Allison<\/a>
Allison Cole “Small Moment 2,” 2018, acrylic on board. (Courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The titles of the paintings in Providence artist Allison Cole\u2019s exhibition \u201cLost Together\u201d in the Reading Room at AS220\u2019s Project Space gallery in Providence through Feb. 24 begin to tell a story. \u201cCan I Come In.\u201d \u201cHead Above Water.\u201d \u201cI Know You\u2019re In There.\u201d \u201cI Love You As You Are.\u201d They are cartoony jungle scenes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,107,115],"tags":[251,293,294,17,72],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6016"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6076,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016\/revisions\/6076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}