About

Chaos into order.
Paint into peace.

I step into the landscape and see everything at once.

My work is to simplify what I find there and offer something peaceful in return.

Artist Statement

Time is a gift. I had a lot of choices with the time I’d been given after our family was raised. I chose to go deep into painting. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

When I pick up the brush, whether outside or in the studio, I lose my sense of time and self. My heart and mind are focused on the complexity, chaos and beauty of what I see before me.

I am neither creator nor builder. My role is to interpret, to say something meaningful as I translate what I see into paint.

I am lost in those precious moments that somehow turn into hours.

This is what it feels like to create a piece of art. My artwork is more than pigment on canvas. It is a secret message of hope, encouragement and love from the heart and soul of a grateful interpreter.

About Beth

Beth Cole is a Nebraska-based painter working primarily in oil. Her landscapes center on fields, trees, streams, and buildings — and the way light and atmosphere transform familiar places into something worth stopping for.

Piano was her first art form. It taught her how to speak without words — through touch, tempo, and interpretation. Painting offered the same language in a different key, and she has been learning it ever since.

She has studied with many generous and accomplished painters, including Jay Moore, Dave Santillanes, and Scott Christensen. Before painting full time, Beth spent twenty years running a web and graphic design business — an experience that shaped how she thinks about quality, showing up for people, and doing work that lasts.

Beth lives with her husband Gary, their dog Willow, and the wide Nebraska sky, in a small rural community near the Sandhills. They have two grown children and three grandsons.

“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”

JOHN 1:5

Highlights

American Impressionist Society Small Works Showcase, “Hay Day”
Museum of Nebraska Art, Nebraska Now, “Aloft”
Wayne Plein Air Festival Invited Artist, Wayne PA
Brinton Museum, Small Works Invitational
Podcast Interview with Kristi Berry, Stems & Stardust Podcast
T.H. Brennen Fine Art 12x12 Show, Scottsdale, AZ
Nebraska Biennial Exhibition, Gallery 1516, Omaha
AIS, Associate Juried Online Show, “Pasture Shadows”
Plein Air Artists Colorado, National Show 2025, “Milburn Marsh”
Museum of Nebraska Art, The Radiant Sky Workshop
Wayne Plein Air Festival Invited Artist, Wayne PA, Honorable Mention for “Waiting.”
Museum of Nebraska Art,Plein Air Paintings From the Flatwater Folk Art Museum, “Snow Study,” 8x10
The Brinton Small Works Invitational Show, Big Horn, WYO
“Prairie Aire,” Joint Exhibition with Roberta Barnes, Prairie Art Center, North Platte NE.
Masters of Light Plein Air 24, 3 Square Art Gallery, Ft. Collins CO, Honorable Mention, “Milburn.”
Nebraskaland Days Fine Art Exhibition, Prairie Art Center, 1st Place-Landscape, “Pasture Pond.” 3rd Place-Western, “Pearl.”
Paint the Sandhills Plein Air, Dismal River Club, 1st Place for “Ascend.”
ARTCetera, Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City IA
Heartland Juried Artist Exhibition, Merriam KS
Artists At Work Exhibition, Prairie Art Center, North Platte NE
Nebraska Biennial Juried Exhibition, Gallery 1516, Omaha
Southwest Art Magazine, Land, Sea and Sky
New Masters Exhibition, Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center, Council Bluffs IA
Farm Island Anthology Exhibition, Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, Award of Merit for my painting “The Test of Time.”
Visions Seen In The Air, Invitational Exhibit, Willa Cather Center, Red Cloud NE
New Master’s Exhibition, Hoff Family Art & Culture Center, Council Bluffs IA
Associates National Online Show, American Impressionist Society
SPIRIT Exhibition 2022, Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney NE
Southwest Art Magazine, Close to Nature
Associates National Online Show, American Impressionist Society
Solo Show, Western Nebraska Art Center, Scottsbluff, NE
Nebraska Star Herald Article
Solo Show, Brickwalk Gallery, Kearney, NE
SPIRIT Exhibition, Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney NE
Group Show, Burkholder Project, Lincoln NE
2019 Nebraska Biennial, Gallery 1516, Omaha NE
Mountain Aire, WAOW, Mary Williams Gallery, Boulder CO
Commissioned for two landscapes, Cloisters on the Platte
ANAC Traveling Show - Unity, 9 x 12, Oil on Canvas
Solo Show, Minden Opera House, Old Feed Store (Bassett)
Group Shows, Burkholder Project, Red Cloud Opera House
Accepted into Nebraska Bienniel Exhibit, Gallery 1516, Omaha
Group Show, Carnegie Art Center, Alliance, Bone Creek Museum, David City