Arctic Raven Gallery - Rande Cook - Northwest Art

Special Exhibit: Rande Cook

'Transcending Form' A solo exhibition by Rande Cook
" We are proud to present this special presentation by a young emerging talent. The event spotlights the richness and diversity of Kwaguilth artist Rande Cook's contemporary vision. In this, his first solo exhibit, Cook masters the melding of traditional Northwest Coast Native design with the modern. Monumental works in cedar and glass, abstract panels, paintings, bentwood boxes paddles and chests, showcase Cook's infallible graphic design sense. There is no question that design work has always been Rande's passion. As soon as he could hold a pencil, he began to draw. Designing on paper is still a compulsion. Cook doodles unconsciously as he does other things.

A particular work, entitled "Urban Tradition" is a sculpture whose tall, carved cedar columns mimic high rises. Metaphorically, the sculpture connects past and present; reminding us that native long-houses once lined shores now covered with sky scrapers. Only one thing comes before Cook's artistic calling - "I am a slave to my family," he states. "I am nothing without them." Cook received his grandfather's chieftainship at a Potlatch at Alert Bay, BC in February 2008. "With that honor comes the cultural responsibility of making sure children receive their Native names, along with appropriate songs and dances. Despite the hard work, in the end I am rewarded with a sense of continuity and rebirth. Our children are our future." Unlike many of his contemporaries, Cook is patient. He has held off having a one-man show until he felt he not only understood the classic forms of his heritage artistically but also spiritually. "Now that it lives within me, I can more forward."

Several of his monumental cedar panels, glass doors and a 20' totem pole have already found a place of prominence in collectors' homes on San Juan Island.

Visitors to "Transcending Form" can expect to be: impressed by Rande's work - for example the 10-foot by 9-foot glass and cedar doors or his cedar chest held up by slaves, and come away with a comprehension of why Rande has earned the pedigree of being one of the Northwest's most talented and innovative young artists.