ARTIST’S STATEMENT
For me, painting comes close to the root meaning of the word “ecstasy”: to stand outside of or transcend oneself. I no longer feel that I am the one “creating” the painting, but the painting is “emerging” from the cradled birch panels on which I work, almost making itself. It’s an experience akin to what writers describe when their characters become so real, they take on a life of their own, decide what they are going to say and do.
During these moments of intense creativity, only the painting and I as the artist exist—all else fades into the background. I coax the images to appear and evolve on the panels, using palette knives, squeegees, even my hands to summon them. Oil and cold wax are the perfect medium, allowing me the freedom to use intuition with layers of color and texture, and shape providing the matrix for each piece.
Artist’s Bio
Although Carrie Mae Weems’s quote on Sharon Cook’s coffee cup from the Museum of Modern Art is meant to be humorous, there is a lot of truth in it for her: Art Has Saved My Life On A Regular Basis. Raised in a small farming community in northern California, she was far from the world of art. She wasn’t encouraged to express herself—not in her family and not in her first marriage. It was the era when women were not supposed to have a voice.
After attending Stephens College in Missouri, Sharon raised a family of three girls. Art was always on a back burner. When her children “left the nest,” she got a job as a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines. Her personality blossomed with exposure to worlds far broader than her small-town upbringing. She could speak at last and found that she actually had something to say. In between trips, she was drawn to art. She began to explore her creativity and felt her voice begin to emerge. Retirement finally provided her with the time she needed to paint every day and identify herself as an artist.
Beyond words and thoughts, her abstract expressionism exposes what is deepest inside her. Working in oil and cold wax on large-format birch panels evokes emotions she wasn’t allowed to experience when she was younger. At the same time, she finds that this emotional expression connects her with others who resonate to her art. What begins as a solitary experience becomes a communal experience. And therein lies her joy.
Sharon C. Cook
b. 1945, Woodland, CA
Lives in Salem, OR
sharonccookartist.com
Education
1963-1965 Stephens College
1966-1967 University of Utah
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Currents Gallery, McMinnville, OR
2022 Currents Gallery, McMinnville, OR
2021 Currents Gallery, McMinnville, OR
2020 Currents Gallery, McMinnville, OR
Group Exhibitions
2025 Currents Gallery, McMinnville, OR
2024 Bush Barn Art Center Gallery, Salem, OR
2023 Chessman Gallery, Lincoln City, OR
2022 Chessman Gallery, Lincoln City, OR
2021 Chessman Gallery, Lincoln City, OR
2019 Artist Studio Association, Lincoln City, OR
2018 Yaquina Art Gallery, Newport, OR
Permanent Collection
2020 Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital, Newport, OR
Residency
2024 Bush Barn Art Center, Salem, OR
Publications
2024 Featured Artist in May edition of Willamette Living Magazine
2025 Cover of The Willamette Valley Guide to the Arts
Awards
2018 Artist in Action
2017 Artist Studio Association
2016 Artist Studio Association