Edie Cohn
The Creative ADHD Mind, 2019
Edie Cohn grew up in the rural Wisconsin town of New Holstein, population 2400. Her first exposure to art was on the covers of her mother’s phonograph records. She was considered the town artist by the time Edie graduated from high school in 1967. At that point, Cohn headed off to California, where she took art classes at Foothill Jr. College and Hayward State University: some of them she loved, some of them she learned from, but Cohn still considers herself a self-taught artist. Cohn's favorite classes and activities at that time involved drawing the human figure in life-drawing classes. But a few years after she came to North Carolina in 1974 and had her first child (Travis) in 1976, she organized a life-drawing program at the Carrboro Arts Center using senior citizens as the models, and that experience turned my focus towards portraiture. Quite quickly, the challenge of capturing a likeness/a spirit on paper became a passion. Cohn joined the feminist group Center/Gallery in the early 1980s and started to show portraits of elderly people in solo shows at the Durham Art Guild and the Carrboro Arts Center. After having her second child (Rachel) in 1983, she started doing drawings of newborn babies at Durham Regional Hospital. Cohn has done about 3,500 baby portraits for Durham families, including some that reach into the second generation. In the early 1990s, Cohn began doing portraits (and then interviews) of homeless people at Durham's homeless shelter, paying each model to sit for her and giving them each a print of the drawing. In 2000, she received a grant from the NC Humanities Council to make a book of these portraits plus excerpts from the interviews. Cohn exhibited this work in many places, including a show at the Durham County Library that involved three forums on homelessness in Durham, which gave homeless people chances to tell their stories and talk with Durham City Council members. Lately, Cohn has become a National Affiliate Member of SOHO20 Gallery in NYC. She mainly works with collage now, using a palette of the brilliant colors that she remembers on those record covers from my preschool years
View more of Edie's work by visiting her website:
Edie Cohn
The Creative ADHD Mind, 2019
Edie Cohn grew up in the rural Wisconsin town of New Holstein, population 2400. Her first exposure to art was on the covers of her mother’s phonograph records. She was considered the town artist by the time Edie graduated from high school in 1967. At that point, Cohn headed off to California, where she took art classes at Foothill Jr. College and Hayward State University: some of them she loved, some of them she learned from, but Cohn still considers herself a self-taught artist. Cohn's favorite classes and activities at that time involved drawing the human figure in life-drawing classes. But a few years after she came to North Carolina in 1974 and had her first child (Travis) in 1976, she organized a life-drawing program at the Carrboro Arts Center using senior citizens as the models, and that experience turned my focus towards portraiture. Quite quickly, the challenge of capturing a likeness/a spirit on paper became a passion. Cohn joined the feminist group Center/Gallery in the early 1980s and started to show portraits of elderly people in solo shows at the Durham Art Guild and the Carrboro Arts Center. After having her second child (Rachel) in 1983, she started doing drawings of newborn babies at Durham Regional Hospital. Cohn has done about 3,500 baby portraits for Durham families, including some that reach into the second generation. In the early 1990s, Cohn began doing portraits (and then interviews) of homeless people at Durham's homeless shelter, paying each model to sit for her and giving them each a print of the drawing. In 2000, she received a grant from the NC Humanities Council to make a book of these portraits plus excerpts from the interviews. Cohn exhibited this work in many places, including a show at the Durham County Library that involved three forums on homelessness in Durham, which gave homeless people chances to tell their stories and talk with Durham City Council members. Lately, Cohn has become a National Affiliate Member of SOHO20 Gallery in NYC. She mainly works with collage now, using a palette of the brilliant colors that she remembers on those record covers from my preschool years
View more of Edie's work by visiting her website:
Recent Exhibitions & Events
SOHO20 Gallery artist Edie Cohn participated in “Making Your Own Career with Public Art”. A juried program that offered the nuts and
bolts of becoming a successful public artist. Durham-based artist, David Wilson, and Cynthia Deis of Triangle Artworks, co-hosted the 6 weeks online course.
Edie has been invited to join Le Galeriste, a Montreal-based company that incorporates the art of international artists into wearable art. Check out Edie's colorful line of clothing here.
Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, 3rd Annual National Juried Exhibition, Juror: John Dalton, Internationally famous Irish artist—podcast ‘Gently does it”, Oct 2019
Recent Exhibitions & Events
SOHO20 Gallery artist Edie Cohn participated in “Making Your Own Career with Public Art”. A juried program that offered the nuts and
bolts of becoming a successful public artist. Durham-based artist, David Wilson, and Cynthia Deis of Triangle Artworks, co-hosted the 6 weeks online course.
Edie has been invited to join Le Galeriste, a Montreal-based company that incorporates the art of international artists into wearable art. Check out Edie's colorful line of clothing here.
Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, 3rd Annual National Juried Exhibition, Juror: John Dalton, Internationally famous Irish artist—podcast ‘Gently does it”, Oct 2019
