Artist Profile: Sherry Cook

Sharing the Joy of Creation

By Ellen Samsell Salas

Artist Sherry Cook likes getting her hands dirty. So, when faced with a blank canvas, she said, “I’ll slap something down, and I’m off and running.”

That “something” might be anything — buttons, old maps, wrapping paper, even recycled wood scraps. The results are mixed media canvasses that are rich in texture and color and often evoke a spiritual connection to viewers.

From the time she was a small child sketching with her grandfather’s carpenter pencil, Cook knew she wanted to be an artist. For the past 30 years, she has created ceramics, handmade paper, folk art, frescoes, and encaustics. She has portrayed coastal and nautical subjects, animals, abstracts, birds, feathers, and angels, her current focus.

“Every seven years or so, I get bored with what I’m doing and will shift and start doing something completely different,” she said, adding that her past pursuits remain integral to her artistic being. “I’m not doing folk art now, though key elements of that inform what I am doing. My favorite medium is whatever I’m doing in the present. I just like to get to my studio and start working.”

Once she begins her canvas, Cook focuses and works for several hours, excited to see what will develop.
She might have a subject in mind but does not paint for a targeted audience or to create a specific mood. Her canvas might be small or very large. Her palette might be subdued or richly hued. It might include layers of paper with sheet music or compass faces on it or the interplay of various shapes.

“That is the joy of creating new things. There is freedom in expressing myself and what I am called to paint,” Cook said. “Some of these paintings are based on mystical experiences I’ve had, things that come to me in meditation.”

Her most recent angel paintings emanated from such an experience.

“One morning, I had a strong inclination to get my sketchbook and sit in the woods and draw,” she recalled. “And, suddenly, all these images of angels came to me. And I scribbled and scribbled, and that started my last series of angels four years ago. I felt there was spiritual guidance for the images.”

Cook’s angels, painted in acrylics on wood, fill the foreground of each canvas while an array of plants and flowers, birds, butterflies, and fish create visual depth. She adds texture by applying various materials to her wooden “canvasses.”

The angels portray almost all ethnicities and ages but are predominantly female.

“I don’t really think of myself as a feminist, but others probably do. In my art, I often explore female theology, the goddess, female archetypes. I am a champion of women,” said Cook.

Whether she is the young child sitting with her grandfather and sketching, or the accomplished artist whose works are exhibited in galleries, arts festivals, hospitals, and corporations, Cook thrives on creating.

“It’s euphoric to put a lot of time in, and then see what I’ve done. It’s like a birthing. It’s very satisfying. Making something that brings people joy and brightens their day is never a bad thing,” Cook said.

For more information, or to view Cook’s art, visit SherryCook.net.