The Artist
Sherry A. Cook's career has spanned over 25 years, beginning in the
early 80's with a short stint as a middle and high school art teacher.
Thanks to the insightful mentoring of a supervising teacher she
quickly moved into a career as a professional artist. Sherry studied
at Berry College, Georgia State University and earned her Bachelor of
Fine Arts Degree from the University of Georgia in 1979. Over the
years she has sold her work at art galleries and shows around the
country. She lives and works in rural Georgia with her children, and
numerous pets.
In the course of her twenty-five year career as an artist, Sherry has
experimented with a variety of media. In fact, a unifying theme of the
work over the years is the experimental use of materials, including
handmade paper, silk, clay tiles, sheet metal, and salvaged wooden
architectural elements. The current encaustic paintings are a natural
evolution for the artist—rather that using actual objects added to the
surface of the painting to create texture, the 'wax paint' itself
creates the texture and surface relief. It is the artist's hope that
the energy of the physical process of painting with encaustic—that
quick application of molten wax, the reheating and manipulation of the
surface with irons—combined with the inherent energy of the text and
images will be felt when the work is viewed.
The Creative Process
The technique used in these paintings is encaustic. Oil paint is mixed
with microcrystalline wax for pigmentation and then melted. The molten
mixture is applied to wood panels or paper in numerous layers and
allowed to cool, at which time marks are drawn and carved into the
surface. The multiple layers create rich surface textures as well as
opportunities for translucent images to subtly emerge from below the
surface. Images and text are drawn onto the surface of the raw wood,
serving as the first layer or 'under painting'. These words and marks
are a sort of journal with intentions, poems and prayers, both global
and personal, which influence and suggest the images that emerge on
the upper layers as the painting.
Common themes in the work are one's relationship to others on life's
journey and one's spiritual connection to all that is around us.
Vessels, circles and containers, images repeated in many of the
paintings, are, for the artist, symbols for self and the individual.
Education
1978 - 1980 University of Georgia Athens, GA Bachelor of Fine Arts,
Textile Design
1975-1977 Berry College , Rome, GA
1981 Georgia State University Atlanta, GA
Collections
LaGrange Museum, IBM, Bank South, C&S Bank
Hartsfield International Airport, City of Newnan
Children's Health at Scottish Rite Hospital,
King and Spaulding, Manheim Corporation,
Coweta County Fairgrounds
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Contact
Sherry A. Cook
770 301-6133
email - Please use contact form below
Representation
Taylor-Kinzell Gallery, Roswell, Georgia www.taylorkinzelgallery.com
Maralyn Wilson Gallery, Birimingham, Alabama, www.maralynwilsongallery.com
Michael Murphy Gallery, Tampa, Florida www.michaelmurphygallery.com
Gallery Minerva, Asheville, North Carolina www.galleryminerva.com
The Gallery, Beaufort, South Carolina www.thegallery-beaufort.com
Dogwood Gallery, Tyrone, Georgia, www.dogwoodgallery.net
Blue, 31 Avenue E, Apalachicola, FL 32320, (850) 653-8778
Flint Gallery at Panoply, Newnan, Georgia, www.panoplyinc.com
Design on the Gulf, Seagrove Beach, Florida www.designonthegulf.com
D'Art Gallery, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles Bitterstraat, Scharloo
599-9) 560-0877
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