Sora Shodo Artist

Cole was born in New York in 1962. Growing up in Spain and England between the ages of 5 and 13 years old. Has resided in the United States since 1976 Cole currently lives in Camas WA. In 2014 Cole attended Portland State University in the Graphic Arts Program. In 2016 Cole transferred to Portland Community College to study video production. While attending PCC Cole worked with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) where he documented stories of people living with mental illness, as well as producing a work place mental illness training video for Community Heath Plan of Washington. Cole also had an internship with Metro East, a community media outlet in Gresham OR. Also while in school Cole worked with X Media producing open mic appearances which led to a seven part documentary for Pedro World Citizen. In 2022 Cole produce a music video for the Scottish band SALT with HX Records.
Cole’s solo project is Cole McLester Productions which has worked with many cultural clients. One of his first clients were One Big Family, a project to bring different African nations together in the US. Cole also works with Huehca Omeyocan a Mayan dance group who bring their Mexican culture to the US. In 2016 while studying video production, Cole met and started working Calin Matei. In 2022 Cole and Calin formed 2Strange Productions. With 2Strange Productions Cole and Calin have produced, a short documentary and a short narrative that have done very well in the film festival circuit. 2022 -23 The documentary “D Aeolian Contrabass Flute” won awards and entries into festivals around the world in Los Angeles, Calgary, Istanbul, Nice, Paris and many more. 2023-24 the short “NOW” won awards and entries into festivals in Portland OR, Hollywood CA, Cannes, Barcelona, and many more. In 2024-25 2Strange will be releasing a short documentary on a Shodo artist Sora and her work.