Welcome to Cherry Street Artist

photogragh by Rose Proudfoot

I was born in Kerrville, Texas on March 27, 1951. I spent my childhood in Sherman, Texas. On the surface it was a flat and desolate place—but freight trains criss crossed the neighborhood, I had uncles who fished for catfish at night, my grandfather owned the corner grocery store, all of which provided a texture that I still miss today.

As a teenager and young man I lived in San Francisco and now have spent 30+ years in Eugene, Oregon. I live with my wife Savona and our cats. I have two grown sons, Caleb and Nathan and a granddaughter, Nadine.

My loss of hearing as an infant left me in a world of my own—telling myself stories about the people and events around me. I found comic books and pulp magazine illustrations to be like beautiful music.

An operation at age eight brought me into the hearing world with all its “reality”. Before the surgery I often thought the things my family did were part of a grand quest. Suddenly I found the mundane to be the case. I think I have felt let down ever since and have sought through the Arts to portray the world as I see it.

I went to Landscape design school at Lane College in Eugene and received a certificate in 1976. In 1978 I went to art school at the same college, taking a full year of studio work in drawing, painting and sculpture. The next year, to save fees, I attended as an independent study student. This gave me a key to the back door and full use of the facilities which I needed to do the painted wood sculptures I made at the time. The place was a beehive. I liked the camaraderie and learned the acceptance of working while surrounded by others. I would help pour bronze in the foundry with friends late at night because I liked the way it looked in a molten state. I was beginning think there might be a real grand quest.

In 1980 I joined Project Space, a cooperative gallery in Eugene and enjoyed the common goal of the members and many are still friends. About ten years ago I found myself drawing almost exclusively. I found the compactness and opportunity for detail more suitable to me.

Influences have been the many great illustrations of my early childhood, leading me to the likes of N. C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, and the wonderful John Held Jr. The work of John Sloane, John Steuart Curry and the Ash Can School are as meaningful to me as the Pre-Raphaelites. “Floating World” Japanese prints of the 18th and 19th century have had a great effect on the way I see. Anything narrative and romantic, without resorting to anecdote, I usually admire.

I don’t feel technically influenced by anyone. I like to think my childhood hand is freed once again to try to tell the stories of our waking world and dream life. My job as an artist is to observe and report. The viewer is the detective, the searcher, the Great One.

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Copyright © 1998-2010 Christopher Cook