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Patricia L. Cooke was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. She earned her BFA in 2011 from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. In 2015, Cooke was awarded a Graduate Teaching Assistant Scholarship from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida where she earned her MFA in Sculpture in 2018. Cooke currently holds the position of Lecturer in Sculpture at the University of Miami. Cooke lives and works in North Miami Beach, Florida with her loving partner Wade and two cats.
The Interview
At what point in your life did you know that you wanted to become an artist? Did the realization emerge slowly?
I think I truly knew I was an artist shortly after graduating with my Bachelor of Fine Arts from Appalachian State University (Boone, NC) in 2011. Although I studied art in college, I had a trajectory to work for (and move up in) my family’s vending business after school, with the understanding my art practice might suffer. However, my compulsion to create was stronger than my lack of time and space for making, thus driving me to procure studio space continue to develop the work I started as an undergrad.
How did you evolve your style and favorite mediums?
I describe my style as intuitive. Even with work like Hollow that requires a level of planning, the digital designing I do for laser cutting is intuitive to an extent. My more formal works start with armatures created from wood and steel by responding to what the material is telling me. Overall, I love bright colors and playing with mixed materials in a playful, child-like way.
Fabric was the first material I can remember staying up past my bedtime as a child to work with. I’ve always been drawn to the soft malleability of it, and the repetitive motions of the processes. I also like materials that push back such as wood and metal, and love combining hard and soft and seeing what relationships or push backs develop between the two.
What are your time management techniques? Do you have regular working hours...or favorite times to work?
I am very fortunate because I teach sculpture at the University of Miami, so I have dedicated months of studio (and rest) time throughout the year. However, I work on projects throughout the school year by working on weekends and evenings. I am also fortunate that I have access to the studio facilities at school year-round, so I often schedule chunks of time during my working days where I can work on artistic projects.
I commute about 20 miles a day to teach, and I take two trains to get there. The entire round-trip train ride is anywhere from and hour and a half to three hours, so I make sure to have a small hand-stitching project to work on, or sketch or read for research on the train.
Do you work on more than one piece at a time, or primarily just on one?
I tend to have at least two projects actively in the works- one that is labor intensive, and research based, and another which is more formal and less physically demanding.
What would you say is your biggest influence--that which keeps you working, regardless of all else, your most steadfast motivation?
Honestly it is a compulsion more than anything else. Pushing the bounds of material constraints and seeing what outcome I can arrive at. I think my work is just aesthetically pleasing enough to draw people in, but just strange enough to make people think.
Does trying something new and not knowing the rules -- the boundary pushing -- create anxiety or excitement in you? (Or both?)
It excites me! I love inventing new processes for myself, every step of the way! I would say I do get a bit of “joyful anxiety”—anxious to get back into the studio and continue the project.
Do you enjoy having the "duality of both chaos and control" or are you happiest with a set plan?
I like the duality of chaos and control! Although I think I do work with a set plan, its usually one in my head that develops along the way.
Do you have any projects or events forthcoming?
I am continuing to build upon Hollow, and am creating a new series of twelve small-scale wall-mounted sculptures. I also have several pieces in current and upcoming group shows.
Hollow
Hollow is an immersive installation experience to explore the empty promises little girls are given about what life is like. We are often told that if we play our cards right and work hard, our lives be beautiful and our dreams will come true; life frequently has other plans. As a child, antique furniture captivated me, and I imagined owning a home filled with beautiful, expensive things. In our current political and environmental climate, homeownership in South Florida is unattainable for the majority of the population, due to both rising prices and rising sea levels. The concept of home gives identity to humans, and I am digging further into this concept through this project. The pieces comprising Hollow are life-sized, non-functional facsimiles of Victorian-era style home furnishings, décor, and personal items created from pink fabric. I pull stock images of Victorian pieces from the internet, import them into Adobe Illustrator and create vector files of patterns which are then laser cut. The elements are then meticulously stitched together. While the work is three-dimensional and in the round, it possesses no structural integrity and relies on ribbon to hold it up from the ceiling, or hangs on the wall and slumps on the floor. This hollowness personifies the pieces to have a feeling of exhaustion or disappointment while looking pretty and ornate.
Hollow is an immersive installation experience to explore the empty promises little girls are given about what life is like. We are often told that if we play our cards right and work hard, our lives be beautiful and our dreams will come true; life frequently has other plans. As a child, antique furniture captivated me, and I imagined owning a home filled with beautiful, expensive things. In our current political and environmental climate, homeownership in South Florida is unattainable for the majority of the population, due to both rising prices and rising sea levels. The concept of home gives identity to humans, and I am digging further into this concept through this project. The pieces comprising Hollow are life-sized, non-functional facsimiles of Victorian-era style home furnishings, décor, and personal items created from pink fabric. I pull stock images of Victorian pieces from the internet, import them into Adobe Illustrator and create vector files of patterns which are then laser cut. The elements are then meticulously stitched together. While the work is three-dimensional and in the round, it possesses no structural integrity and relies on ribbon to hold it up from the ceiling, or hangs on the wall and slumps on the floor. This hollowness personifies the pieces to have a feeling of exhaustion or disappointment while looking pretty and ornate.
Hollow detail
Flow
Pushing Up The Entire Genus
Contact the artist directly:
cooke.tricia@gmail.comhttps://www.patriciacooke.com/
Instagram: /www.instagram.com/wix/
Facebook: Patricia L. Cooke Art
Tik Tok: @_miss_treesh
cooke.tricia@gmail.comhttps://www.patriciacooke.com/
Instagram: /www.instagram.com/wix/
Facebook: Patricia L. Cooke Art
Tik Tok: @_miss_treesh