Ed Colston

Ed Colston (1938 - 2006) is a mixed media artist. A Columbus (OH) native, he attended the Columbus Art School in the late 50s, which later became the Columbus College of Art and Design. He taught in the Fine Arts Department of CCAD from 1970 through 1978.

Ed has served on the Visual Arts Task Force Committee, the Martin Luther King Jr., Center for the Performing and Cultural Arts; the African-American Cultural Arts Committee, the Columbus Museum of Art; and is currently on the Editorial Advisory Board of Dialogue Art Journal. He most recently served as on-site juror of the 2002 Columbus Arts Festival.

Ed’s work has been included in numerous national and exhibitions. His most recent one-person show (September, 2001) was a ten year retrospective at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center.

Currently Ed is Art Coordinator at the Martin Janis Multigenerational Adult Programs form the City of Columbus. He also maintain a studio in the German Village area.

Artist Statement

Mundane and found materials have commonality in my work. The re-usability of of various discarded papers and raw materials, suggest immediacy...the present. It is historical. That these materials have been used in human activities, makes their use important. For me it expresses a degree of clarity; a locking in of time. Collage allows me the opportunity to unify the real world with subjective illusion.

The patterns I use help identify and define the basic structure of human form. Transparent characteristics of the tissue paper allows the form to vacillate between image and mirage. Also, the linear aspect of design patterns, yield a distinct quality the drawn line can not express. At

issue is the use of the figure as visual dialogue. For me, collage helps validate the issue. And, although color, scale and surface are of importance in my work, the degree to which collage unifies the visual components is essential. The focus of my work concerns my African-American heritage. I want to insure that contributions African-Americans have made to our culture is significant, no matter the degree of importance.