Serena Cole

EDUCATION

2011 MFA California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2006 BFA with High Distinction, Painting and Drawing, California College of the Arts, San Francisco

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022     Serena Cole, Selected, Saint Joseph’s Art Society, San Francisco

2020     Keep It to Yourself, Sierra Nevada University, Incline Village, NV

2019     All This Useless Beauty, Stephanie Chefas Gallery, Portland, OR

             Demoiselles, WAL Public Market Gallery, Sacramento, CA

2018     What It Feels Like For a Girl, Artworks Downtown, San Rafael, CA

2016     Let Me Look at You, Gallery 16, San Francisco

2012     Through a Glass, Darkly, Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN

2010     The Rapture, Alice + Olivia, Southampton, NY

2009     I Wanna Be Adored, Triple Base Gallery, San Francisco

TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2025     Serena Cole and Linda Cosgrove, Marin Theatre, Mill Valley, CA

2008     Golden: Serena Cole & Tahiti Pehrson, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco

2007     Grant Barnhart & Serena Cole, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS  

2027     Northern CA Triennial, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA (forthcoming)

2026     Drawing Stall II Group Show, Stellar Highway, Brooklyn, NY (forthcoming)

Thirty Years, Granucci Gallery, Grass Valley, CA

2025     New Edition, Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, CA

            Heavy, The Gallery, Sacramento, CA

Love Letter, Ruscha & Co, Los Angeles, CA

2023     Visions and Voices, Taube Museum of Art, Minot, ND

Self Portrait Invitational, E Street Gallery, Sacramento

2022     Representational Abstraction, Barn Gallery, Woodland, CA

Fall Exhibition, Marrow Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2021      Painting the Figure Now, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau, Wisconsin

Slice, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA

2019     Skill Tree, Honey Ramka, Brooklyn, NY

Secret Santa, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2018     Quest: A Collection, NIAD Art Center, Richmond, CA

2017     TAKEOVER, Alter Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Manifesto, Nook Gallery, Oakland, CA

2016     Geo Necro, ADA Gallery, Richmond, VA

One Hundred Years, One Hundred Artists, Gregory Kondos Gallery, Sacramento, CA

2015     Alchemy, Inner State Gallery, Detroit, MI

Jug Life, Park Life, San Francisco, CA

Painting Expelled, Campus Center Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2014     More Than One Way, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA

2013     Collect Call: Exploring Art Patronage, Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN

Tear It Out I, Issues, Oakland, CA

2012     Watercolors, Phillips de Pury, New York, NY

Twisted Sisters, Dodge Gallery, New York, NY

Against the Grain, Mark Moore Gallery, Culver City, CA

2011     Like You Mean It, Underline Gallery, New York, NY

Fabrications, Marx and Zavattero Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Natural Beauty, Oxenrose, San Francisco, CA

2009     A New Breed of Watercolor, Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN

Threadbare, The Lab, San Francisco, CA

The Icon and the Iconic, Manresa Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2008     Artists’ Ball, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

Universal Grammar, Gallery Homeland, Portland, OR

The Thin Ice Collective, Anne Bonny, Seattle, WA

Optical Illusion, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA

Drawing Under the Influence, MANIAC, Oakland, CA

2007     Bliss, Roberts and Tilton Gallery at Domestic, Los Angeles, CA

There is No Light Without Darkness, Hinterconti, Hamburg, Germany

Mirabile Visu, MM Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2006     East Side Story, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

            Bay Area Currents, Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, CA

            Ripples, Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, CA

SELECTED ARTIST LECTURES AND PANELS

2021     California College of the Arts, Fine Arts Department

2020     Sierra Nevada University Artist Lecture Series

2019     California State University, Chico, Art Department

2018     Artworks Downtown Lecture Series, San Rafael, CA

2017     San Francisco Art Institute, Art Department, Professional Practices

2016     California State University, Sonoma Visiting Artist Lecture Series

Mills College, Graduate Fine Arts Department

The Painters’ Salon Lecture Series, Gallery 16, San Francisco

2015     San Francisco Art Institute, Post-Baccalaureate Program

2013     Notes from the Studio Lecture Series, California College of the Arts

California College of the Arts, Graduate Fine Arts Department Panelist

2012     California State University, San Francisco, Art Department

California College of the Arts, Fine Arts, Panelist

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2022 Taylor, Mark. “What to See in June”, SFArts, online, June

2021 Stein, Maya. The Poser. Toad Hall Editions, p. 144-149

2020 Shoka. “Interview with Serena Cole”, comstocksmag.com, March

2018 Smith, Andy. “Serena Cole’s Stirring Mixed-Media Portraits”, hifructose.com, August

Scott, Gabe. “Serena Cole: An Alluring Analysis”, Juxtapoz Magazine, p. 126-133, June

Larson, Vicki. “Portraits of anxiety”, Marin Independent Journal, March

2017 Samaniego, Daniel. “The File: Serena Cole”, settlersandnomads.com, October

One Hundred Years, One Hundred Artists, catalog, Kondos Gallery, May

2014 Yeapanis, Stacia. “Other Peoples’ Pixels Interviews Serena Cole”, OtherPeoplesPixels.com, May

2012 Simoneau, Nicolas. “Iconical”, KALTBLUT Magazine, p. 60-65, November

Muniz, Kristy. “Obsession Issue: Serena Cole”, Working Class Magazine, p. 18-21, November

Regan, Sheila. “Serena Cole's 'Through a Glass, Darkly' features unsettling transformations, portraits”, Minneapolis City Pages, September

Abbey, Mary. “Seeworthy: Through a Glass Darkly: New Work Serena Cole”, Minneapolis Star Tribune, September

Grattan, Nikki; McKenna, Klea. “Serena Cole”, inthemake.com, May

2011 Foam Magazine, “Fish Bowl”, pg. 35, Meighan O’toole, September

Murasaki, Alaisk. “Interview with Serena Cole”, anormalmagazine.com, November

Beautiful Decay Staff, “Serena Cole’s Fashionable Portraits”, beautifuldecay.com, June

Huffington Post Staff Report, “Exhibition Spotlight: Fabrications at Marx and Zavattero”, huffingtonpost.com, February

Bowers, Keith. “The Horror, the Humor”, SF Weekly, January

Farr, Kristin; Hapsis, Emmanuel. “Studio Invasion: Serena Cole”, KQED.org, January

2010 The Block Staff, “Interview with Serena Cole”, theblock.com, May

2009 Miller, Randall. “I Wanna Be Adored”, artpractical.com, November

2008 Umbigo Staff, “Bello y Monstro”, Umbigo Magazine, p. 36-37, April

Scott, Gabe. “Profile: Serena Cole”, Juztapoz, p. 32, August

AWARDS AND HONORS

2025 Creative Growth Fellowship, City of Sacramento Arts and Culture

2021 Artist Relief Grant, Nevada County Arts Council

2016 Tosa Studio Award Nominee, Minnesota Street Project

2011 Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship Finalist, California College of the Arts

SPECIAL PROJECTS: Writing/Curatorial

2022     Staff Contributor to Variable West

Producing artist interviews for online arts magazine

2017     Founder of TAKEOVER Magazine

Organized and self-published arts magazine featuring underrepresented female and nonbinary artists. Featured at the San Francisco Art Book Fair. Curated corresponding exhibition at Alter Space, San Francisco in 2017.

2013     Curator of Painting Expanded Symposium Exhibition

Curated and installed supplemental student exhibition for Painting Symposium at CCA’s Wattis Galleries, San Francisco

2013     Curator and Organizer of Tear It Out Exhibitions

Proposed and organized two-part art exhibition and zine fair at Issues in Oakland and CCA Writing Department in San Francisco

2005-   Co-Founder of the Thin Ice Collective

2008     Co-organized proposals and exhibitions