![]() Here's a sneak peek at the first design coming out. 3 more are soon to join. Designs by AC printed at Silk Screen Ink (Iowa). We are planning on these to be available at the beginning of June! Stay tuned...
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![]() Sunny, warm, and by the beach. These were my conditions when looking for a new spot to land in California after leaving Kentucky 7 months ago. The plan was set into action in May of 2011 after Andy and I eloped on the shores of Garrapata Beach in Big Sur. With just our magical officiate, and the ocean underworld to witness, we made a commitment to one another. I also made a silent commitment that I would move to California - if I can have the person of my dreams...I can live in the place of my dreams. I knew I needed to wake up to this environment every day. It took some time but we wrapped up some loose ends in our hometown, completed our music and art projects, bought a 95 Chevy Van (Horus) and sold everything we had except our music equipment and what we could fit inside of Horus. For a month we traveled like vagabonds visiting wherever we wanted, looking for our “destination unknown”. We knew we wanted to live on the southern coast of California but we weren’t really sure where. With a bottle of bourbon, some good music, and nothing but time, we began our westward trek with Horus, our 18 year old van/son. We took the scenic route, camping on the tops of canyons in New Mexico, visiting as many strange state parks as possible, and just enjoying the ride. Our first stop in California was near the bottom of San Diego– more specifically Encinitas. We chose that spot because we had never heard of it before and there was a good deal in the AAA travel book for a nice hotel. We were pleasantly surprised. We didn’t know it then, but every other place along the coast would be compared to northern San Diego. But this was only our first stop to look for “destination unknown”. We had the rest of the coast to go! We hit many places, San Francisco, LA, San Luis Obispo, San Cruz, Monterey Bay. We got lost walking around in the desert at night in Joshua Tree (the rocks kept us company…another story), and traveled up as far north as Ukiah CA because we wanted to visit some friends. Plus, tree fairies live in the Redwoods. But Northern California, as absolutely cool, hippy, and beautiful as it is, just wasn’t warm enough for the lizard in me. Long story short, (I’ll spare you the minor inconveniences of living in one’s van, mostly consisting of trying to find a place to pee and to “park n’ sleep”. Oh yeah, and then there was trying to find a landlord who would rent to tenants who had “Explorers of God’s Country” under the employment section of the application and “Living in our Van” under the residence section. Low and behold, after a month of van life) we finally found our C spot in Oceanside CA. I compare Oside to Encinitas’ wild cousin, or the smoking section of SoCal. Our C spot is steps away from the beach, surrounded by new friends and palm trees, and the journey to get here has been just as fun as the time we are having now. My only question is…where do California residents go outside of California on vacation? I hear Greece is nice. Kelly Cook Here at Cook Creative we've had an amazing first 2 months, first with "Myth of Myself" and then last month with the release of "I REFUSE I WILL NOT BOW DOWN I WILL NEVER GIVE UP" by Ron Whitehead!
In the next few months we will see a new book of art and photography by Andy and Kelly Cook, new book by Dr. John Rocco, CD release of Louisville band, ARCH's "Tyranosaurus Tex", double CD of Ron Whitehead, new book of art and poetry by Ryan and Bridget Case and designer t-shirts by Andy Cook! I'm sure many more amazing things are on the way, About a month or so ago I was approached by our upstairs neighbor about renting out one of the garages in our apt building to create high end designer furniture. I of course said hell yes. This was a way of getting my hands back on some metal. As much as I've tried to get away from working with metal I always love it when I come back.
In the past week we've gotten the space cleared and have started building coffee tables, credenzas, shelves/sconces and we have a dinner table on the way that has a Jaguar hood incorporated in it. Sascha Eiblmayr is the neighbor I speak of, for those like me who didn't know, was a freaking supermodel in the '90s,posing for Guess, Luis Vitton, Versace and others. He may still be big in Japan but to me he's my fun neighbor who I get make stuff with. He paid his way through college doing carpentry work and now he gets to splinter up his hand again. Our pieces are a beautiful marrying of wood and metal, using amazing patinas on the metal and using California Walnut and Costal Oak wood in the designs. Stay tuned, pictures will be posted very soon... ![]() Yesterday I purposely painted the most ugly painting in my life. Shortly I'll be clear coating it, sealing the deal. Normally with an unappealing piece I can just cover it up with another painting, but this one was different. I liked it. While painting it I wanted to gouge my eyes out especially while laying blue against orange. It made me laugh. It was a great way to shake off a hangover. It made my head hurt worse and I'd keep laughing. Kelly got out of bed and instantly told me it was horrible, she understands my sick sense of humor and she had a laugh with me. Isn't the main purpose of art to invoke emotion? Every time I've looked at it I cracked a smile so I knew it's art and I believe it's good art. Good bad art. They say only a mother can love an ugly child, some would call me a mother right now, some would tack "fucker" behind mother, and this ugly duckling, my child is called "Thinking I'm Thinking Outside of the Box (is it bright enough Deb?)" acrylic on wood, 15.625"x25.75" and is $100. Enjoy, AC I've been drawing for a long time, pretty much my whole life. There was a part of me that wasn't ready to paint. It was 25 years later that I ventured from the drawing board (pun intended) into painting. I started into acrylic cause someone suggested it first so this is what I cleaved to. It facilitated my impatience drying fast and all...
I was intimidated by oil since it was a radical agent and didn't dry quick enough for me. I'm a bit more patient for it now but this isn't the point. Like with drawing I started to get a firm grip on my subjects, ideas and media, almost to the point where I was searching for something else. Photo realism only took me so far I reckon and I needed more dimension, I didn't know what to do about it. About a week ago or so I started putting random strokes of acrylic paint on a canvas I had laying around. I had ventured into abstract in the past and have had some fun with it but something about this was different. Not sure how to fully describe what happened besides saying that I finally figured out how to wrap my mind around impressionism. Kind of like trying to get a sticky label off of something and you finally get one part to come up, then you have leverage. At the end of the piece what I had may not have been what you'd call an impressionist piece, more like a close up of shag carpet. But I believe I finally had broken my mind out of it's photo realist stronghold that had been secured for a long time. I finally had an idea of how to approach paintings from a different direction. Thank god! So I painted another few pieces with different colors and shapes and honed in a little further to what I had been searching for. Today I finally ran my photo realistic eye through this impressionist filter and what came out greatly surprised me! My first for real impressionist painting had been born... "Kodu Baar" ![]() New work by AC. "Tangled Up In Love With You" acrylic on canvas 20"x24" If interested in purchasing send us an email at [email protected] Cheers! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2013 Cook Creative Contacts: Andy and Kelly Cook Phone: (502) 224-2027 E-mail: [email protected] Poet, Ron Whitehead’s best book to date - no April Fool! If you have ever doubted the talent, the gift of Ron Whitehead, then this book will make you a believer. I REFUSE I WILL NOT BOW DOWN I WILL NEVER GIVE UP is a greatest hits collection of Ron Whitehead’s most moving works to date. Hand selected poems, writings, and stories reveal a thought provoking mixture of tenderness, satire and explosiveness. This new release highlights the genius that is Ron Whitehead. View a short trailer here: http://youtu.be/wjVecVBjygM Whitehead has come a long way from growing up on a farm in Kentucky. I REFUSE I WILL NOT BOW DOWN I WILL NEVER GIVE UP encapsulates personal reflections of his culture and childhood, ever growing experiences on the road and collaborations with legends such His Holiness the Dali Lama, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Hunter S. Thompson, Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Huncke, Gregory Corso, David Amram, Diane di Prima, Amiri Baraka, and many others. "Ron Whitehead, out there in Kentucky, out there where the tall heroes used to grow, is sowing the dragon's teeth of new heroics." —Lawrence Ferlinghetti "Ron Whitehead is energetic Bodhisattvic poetic spirit! Happy to see and read so much poetry energy!” —Allen Ginsberg "The first time I heard Ron Whitehead read I felt what I imagine those who heard Abraham Lincoln deliver The Gettysburg Address felt." — David Amram "I have long admired Ron Whitehead. He is crazy as nine loons, and his poetry is a dazzling mix of folk wisdom and pure mathematics." —Hunter S. Thompson Purchase your copy today on the Cook Creative website: http://www.cookcreativeworks.com/ Ron Whitehead is a poet, writer, editor, publisher, organizer, scholar and professor. He is the author of 28 books and 37 CD’s. He has edited over 3,000 titles, published over 2,000 titles, and produced over 3,000 events internationally. Ron has presented over 60 scholarly papers at major colleges and universities and performed over 6,000 of his creative works with musicians around the planet and continues to do so. As poet and writer he is the recipient of numerous state, national, and international awards including: The All Kentucky Poetry Prize, The Yeats Club of Oxford's Prize for Poetry, two nominations for The Pulitzer Prize, four Grammy nominations as a featured participant in Calque Cinema's David Amram Poetry JAM, and in 2006 was nominated for The Nobel Prize in Literature. His works have been exhibited and are included in major museums, libraries, galleries, and private collections here, there, and everywhere around the world and has been praised by many of the world’s leading authors, musicians, artists and cultural figures. This year holds a lot in store for the Outlaw Poet, some of which includes a 12-country Europe Tour with “Diverse Universe”, an invitation from the Dali Lama, and an inclusion in the new Johnny Depp film, For No Good Reason about the life and work of Ralph Steadman in which he is the Kentucky Derby Announcer, traveling to Iceland with “Storm Generation Films” to wrap up a two hour documentary Outlaw Poet Ron Whitehead (http://stormgenerationfilms.wordpress.com) and various other international tours and recordings with musicians. Stay tuned through Ron’s Facebook page and his website: http://www.tappingmyownphone.com. I REFUSE I WILL NOT BOW DOWN I WILL NEVER GIVE UP is a book publication of Cook Creative—a power-house art hub—publishing books and music, creating art and designer wear, and providing custom art and graphic design services. For more information or to purchase Ron Whitehead’s book, please visit: http://www.cookcreativeworks.com/ |
Cook Creative
Art collective located in Southern California Archives
July 2016
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Cook Studio & Gallery. 309 South Spring St. Louisville KY. 502-224-4740 Website by JK Designs