John Cook is a multi talented artist who¡¯s work is inspired by the Art Nouveau style. John has been working in glass since 1968 when he received a scholarship to Brooks Institute of Fine Art in Santa Barbra where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in glass with honors. He now lives and works in his studio in the rural northwest. His work has been shown in major galleries, juried exhibitions, and museums throughout the United States including the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; the De Young Museum, San Francisco; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Smithsonian¡¯s Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC. John Cook contemporizes traditional and historic forms in his base, bowls, sculptural vessels and lamp designs. He creates bronze lamps that are designed and cast by himself that are topped by handblown glass shades. These lamps are inspired by the Art Nouveau style with the bases acting as branches which are accentuated by glass leaves. In his Neo-Leopard series of vases, bowls, and covered urns John¡¯s superior glassblowing skills are personified. Using his own formula of cobalt and silver nitrate John creates a dappled leopard skin pattern on the exterior of and then lines the pieces in vibrant red, the most difficult color to active in glass.
