Cora Marshall Bio

Cora Marshall, born in Washington, DC, is an artist, educator, and scholar. She received her B.F.A. from Howard University with a major in art and a minor in education. After teaching art in the Alexandria Virginia City Schools for many years, she returned to school to acquire a Master of Science in Education from Bank Street College of Education with Parsons School of Design and her doctorate in art from New York University. Currently, Dr. Marshall is a Professor of Art and the Chairperson of the Department of Art at Central Connecticut State University. There she has taught research, theory and practice in Art Education as well as classes in Mixed Media art and educational technology.

As an artist, she centers her work in spirituality and creates art that seeks out the connections to and lessons from her past. By mixing symbols and meaning, by affirming the potency of the spirits, by honoring the holy, she “extends an invitation to contemplate the significance and depth of the power within.” Dr. Marshall is currently, working in and across the medium of painting, photography, and video. She has exhibited both internationally and nationally including National Conference of Artists; Kumasi, Ghana; A.I.R. Gallery NYC; Skylight Restoration Gallery in Brooklyn; Hammonds House Gallery in Atlanta; Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; Craftery Gallery, in Hartford; the Rosenburg Gallery at NYU; White Space Gallery, New Haven; and Picture That, LLC, Stamford, CT with multiple venues.

As a scholar, her current research interest focuses on contemporary African American artists, in particular, Black women artists (African/African-Native women artists). She has presented at numerous professional venues including the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Cornell University, Columbia University Teachers College in NY, College Art Association, Connecticut Art Education Association, and Southern Connecticut State University, in New Haven. She has published in numerous venues including: Jean-Michele Basquiat, International Review of African American Art:. Runaway! Going, Going, Gone. A Painting Series, Association for the Study of African American Life and History; and Cultural Identity, Creative Processes, and Imagination: Creating Cultural Connections Through Art Making, The Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education.

In 2004, Dr. Marshall was was selected as a member of the "Teaching Excellence Honor Roll" at CCSU. Also in 2004, Dr. Marshall was selected as "Outstanding Art Educator in Higher Education" by the Connecticut Art Education Association.