Cole received her first national exposure as an enamelist in 1954 at the Decorative Arts and Ceramics Exhibition in Wichita. The exhibition included two of her enamels, one of which won a purchase award and entered the Wichita Art Association’s collection. She participated in the Wichita in 1956, 1957, 1960, and 1961, and two additional works from these shows were acquired by the association. Her first major work in enamel, Mardi Gras, was also juried at the Eighteenth Ceramic National in Syracuse in 1954.