Last week we hosted Cole Swavely, who graduated from the Illustration department in 2010 and went on to RISD Graduate School. He spoke enthusiastically about his work and life as an artist, employee, volunteer, and future Navy Officer.

Read more about his goals and Artist Statement after the jump.

 

Artist Statement by Cole Swavely:

I am happiest when my mind and my body are in constant motion, and keeping that momentum going leads to good things. My work exists as a prescription for happiness, evolving as the definition changes. Having discovered the ‘best practices’ of my own life, my work also serves to further the physical, mental, and moral development goals that are extremely important to me as person and as an artist.

The four life goals that I have are:

Be a good husband
Be a good father
Be a good artist
Be a good soldier

Some are farther away than others, but everything I do feeds into these goals.

I am excited about every piece of work that I am making. I get an immense amount of energy from the production of work, coupled with the joy I get from stepping back and taking in what I have made. In order to get as much as I can out of my work, I have harnessed the nature of printmaking to allow me to easily change variables and explore many of the possibilities within each work.