Willie Cole - Man Spirit Mask, 1999, Triptych: photo etching; silkscreen; photo etching with woodcut, 39 1/8 x 79 1/2 in., Courtesy of Alexander and Bonin, New York

The 2009 Malloy Visiting Artist Lecture will be delivered by sculptor Willie Cole beginning at 6 pm Tuesday (3/3), in Gannett. The talk is free and open to the public.

Cole is renowned for imbuing elements of nature, industrial culture, and West African religion and mythology into sculptures made up of household objects such as steam irons, bathroom fixtures, old electric irons, and bicycle parts. “I want the objects to have a life of their own: I think that is what makes them real,” Cole has said.  “When a piece gets to a point where all the parts are put together in the right way, it has a power of its own and you know not to mess with it.”

Cole is on campus thanks to the Art Department and the endowment of Susan Rabinowitz Malloy who graduated from Skidmore in 1945. Malloy earned her B.A in art from Skidmore and went on to successfully show work group and solo shows in New York and Connecticut. In 1991 Malloy established the Malloy Visiting Artist Lecture Series, which annually brings artists of international stature to campus.