I trained at Liverpool College of Art and then enjoyed a 36 years career, first in teaching and then for 28 years as a senior lecturer in Art and Ceramics at Edge Hill University.

In my art work Northern landscapes have always been strong motivators where the Lancashire Plain (where I live (and the Pennines (where I was born) have long been central themes. Spells spent on the coastlines in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland have also contributed dramatic material. Interest in music, classical and jazz feeds in specific imagery, colour and mood highlighted by performers and their instruments. Living things excite me from the natural world, the yearly changes, the movement of horses, the flight of birds and the growth factor - not least the human figure, its characteristics, the nude and the effects of time.

Having a large range of art materials on hand encourages working in different ways, allowing ideas to develop in their own ways and not towards repetive and predictable ends. Switching between two and three dimensional disciplines is stimulating and many links emerge between drawn and painted imagery and objects I make in clay.

Exhibitions

Main one man shows have been held at at:
Salford City Art Gallery – ’71 ’78 and ‘89
Samlesbury Hall – 3 one man shows – the last in 1997
1st prize in the NW section of the Laing Exhibition in ‘91
This was followed by a show at the Mall Gallery, London in ‘92
21st Century
Numerous contributions to exhibitions arranged by the West Lancs Art and Craft Guild and by the Sefton Guild of Artists

Contact Brian Cook

Email: briancookarts@hotmail.co.uk