She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in fiber arts from the Maryland Institute in 1983, and received much of her early print education as a working member of Peacock Printmakers in Aberdeen, Scotland. She completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from Michigan's Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1989. Cole shows both nationally and internationally. Her latest solo exhibition, Shift, was shown at Gallery Bienvenu in New Orleans. Her recent visiting artist engagements include the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Anchor Graphics and Columbia College in Chicago, Kansas City Art Institute, University of Northern Iowa, and Hard Ground Printmakers in Cape Town, South Africa. She just returned from a printmaking artist residency at Frans Masereel in Kasterlee, Belgium.