Art Resume : Lynda Cookson

Work sold in                            :           UK, Ireland, South Africa, Namibia, many parts of the                      USA, Canada, France, Spain, Dominican Republic

Galleries                                   :           Bold Art Gallery, Galway
                                                            Cong Art Gallery, Co. Mayo
                                                            Lavelle Art Gallery, Clifden
                                                            Lahinch Gallery (Kennys), Co. Clare
Angela Woulfe Gallery, Limerick (permanent exhibition)
                                                            Sala Barna, Barcelona, Spain
                                                           
Auctioneers                              :           Adams Fine Art Auctioneers, Dublin
                                                                                   
Collections of work                  :           Mr L Murrin, Dawn Foods, Naas, Dublin, Ireland
                                                            Mr A Boyd, Arizona, USA
                                                            Ms S J Lynch, Galway, Ireland
                                                            Mrs Nancy McAllister, Guntersville, Alabama, USA
                                                            Mr N McLoughlin, Ross Communications, Dublin
                                                            Offices of the ‘Now’ magazine group, Galway, Ireland

Commissions                           :           South Africa : Mr D Bose (3 paintings)
South Africa : Mrs B de Villiers (2 paintings)
                                                            United Kingdom : Mr A Firth (1 painting)
                                                            South Africa : Mr Victor Ferraz (1 charcoal sketch)
                                                            Ireland : Joanna Hannick (1 painting)

Professional Member                :           Visual Artists Ireland
                                                            AWAI – American Writers and Artists Incorporated

Founder and Organiser            :           2005 ‘Art in the West’ exhibition in Galway

Media Interviews                      :           March 2006 –  TV1 and  Radio1 Barcelona during
                                                                 Exhibition at Sala Barna,  Barcelona
                                                            2004 – Profile article in ‘Galway Now’ magazine

Publications                             :           ‘Summer Field’ published on front cover of WMS Wealth
                                                                 Management Services Quarterly magazine Spring 2008 
                                                                 (USA)                

                                                            ‘Dolphin Abstract’ published Events Quarterly
                                                                Spring 2008 – internet publication (Canada)

Designer for                             :           Dezign Inc., Harare, Zimbabwe (producers of T-shirts,
                                                            aprons, paper items, mugs, etc) – unpaid position.

Logo Design for                       :           2005 - ‘Art in the West’ exhibition in Galway
                                                            2007 - ‘The Cake Baker’ Manchester, UK

Studies                                     :           Michaelis Art School, Cape Town, South Africa
GMIT, Galway
Art Space, Galway

Digital Art                                   :        Digital Show for the Liverpool Biennial – Independents 2006
Digital art sold from www.artocracy.com
                                                            Refocus Now stock catalogue (UK)
www.refocus-now.com

Exhibitions To Come:
 September/October 2008           :           Solo exhibition, Sala Barna, Barcelona, Spain

Recent Past Exhibitions:
July 2008                                  :           Solo exhibition for Galway Arts Festival at Radisson SAS
                                                                 Hotel, Galway ‘Dancing In Sunshine’
August 2008                              :           Solo exhibition for Galway Race Week at Radisson SAS
                                                                 Hotel, Galway ‘Taking Equestrian Art into the 21st 
                                                                 Century’             
December 2007                         :           Angela Woulfe Gallery, Limerick
March 2007                               :           Anton’s Café, Galway
December 2006                         :           Christmas Group Exhibition, Bold Gallery, Galway
September 2006                        :           Solo Exhibition, Fisheries Tower, Galway
July 2006                                  :           The River Walk Exh, Project 06/Galway Arts Week
August 2006                              :           Solo Exhibition, Airfield Trust, Dublin
March 2006                               :           Group exhibition, Sala Barna, Barcelona, Spain
March 2006                               :           Group exhibition 8x8, Fisheries Tower, Galway
February 2006                           :           Group exhibition, Bold Art Gallery “Floral Collage”

Dec 2005                                :           Represented Ireland at Florence Biennale, Italy

October 2005                            :           Munch, Woodquay, Galway                  
Aug 2005                                  :           Solo Exhibition : St Patrick’s Trian, Armagh City
June 2005                                 :           Art in the West, Galway
May 2005                                  :           Sala Barna, Barcelona, Spain
Feb to end May 2005                 :           Original Oil Print Collection at Central Bank, Dublin

Nov 2004                                   :           Art Ireland Autumn Collection, Dublin
Nov 2004                                   :           Athenry Library, Co. Galway, Group exhibition
June, Aug, Sept 2004                 :           People’s Art, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
June/July 2004                           :           Woman’s Panorama  Exh, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa
May 2004                                  :           Art Ireland Summer Collection, Dublin

April/May 2003                          :           Inst Exh “Crossing/Knotting”, Nordbahnhof Stn, Berlin
July to Oct 2003                        :           The Boat Inn, Oughterard, Co Galway
Nov 2003                                   :           Galway Library, Solo Exhibition

1999 to 2001                             :           Various venues in Johannesburg, Greyton and
                                                            Cape Town, in South Africa; and Swakopmund in
                                                            Namibia

Residencies                              :           January 2007 – Cill Rialaig, Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry
                                                            January 2008 – Cill Rialaig, Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry

Writing                                  Arts Profile Writer for ‘Galway Now’ , ‘Cork Now’ and ‘Limerick Now’ Magazines (since Jan 2005)

Contributor : Two issues “Moving In” interior decorating magazine, Dublin
“Living It” magazine, Dublin – regular contributor
“Boots ‘n All” internet travel magazine
“Great Britain and Ireland’s Best Hotels” travel guide – Galway hotels for 2008
“Irish Homes” interior decorating articles
Various travel publications and internet magazines
                                                           
Author : “The eArt Directory” launched at 2005 Art in the West Exhibition. 

Author : “How to Make Handmade Paper”, published August 2005

Curator and Contributor :  “Art in the West 2005” catalogue

Press Trips                               :           Abruzzo, Italy – art course for Point 101

Own website                             :           www.lyndacookson.com
My work is featured on many group and guest websites for both art and writing

Artist Statement

Lynda Cookson

On a deeper level than the notions of freedom and rebellion, incorporating colour and movement, Cookson works with what she terms the 'behind music'; she works with the masks of protection and the layers of learning people develop and build up through their lives; and she works with how they learn to live with those masks and layers; and how they achieve their wisdom.

The ‘behind music’ she refers to is all the parts of a symphony concert in their separate forms, all the patterns of sound, the individual notes, the individual instruments, the emotions elicited, the energy expended and the people involved, which unite to make the complete piece of music so beautiful, soul-reaching, acceptable and exciting to the masses of people who listen to it.

The parallel is the lives people are living, learning and sculpting to make themselves better and more wise; to make themselves more beautiful, valuable and acceptable to the society they belong in, while still coping with the energy needed to smooth out every-day stresses in meeting their challenges.

Cookson's recent work has been influenced by Irish painter Louis le Brocquy. Other influences include Kenneth Webb, Jack Yeats and Matisse. Memories of Picasso slip in now and then.

Cookson says of her methods and techniques: 'True inspiration comes when I am excited by a subject to the point of sleeping badly at night and (preserve me!) wanting to get up early in the morning. I use oils, sometimes acrylics, on artist-prepared stretched linen canvas or linen-covered board, occasionally using my own handmade paper and various fabrics for texture beneath the paint. I like the surface to have a ‘tooth’. Much of my work is done with palette knives and brushes but I also use sponges, my fingers, pieces of cardboard, paper table napkins and scrunched plastic. In fact, whatever is to hand in the moment of need! My work tends to be colourist in that I build up layers of pure colour often allowing the lower layer to show through, giving movement and life to the painting.

'I use my imagination, freedom of colour and stroke-movement, to bring my art to life, finding inspiration in the unexpected and in the use of ‘rebellious’ colours.

'Once the painting is complete it's important for me to be impelled to look at it again and again and to feel the butterflies of pleasure in what has been created – otherwise I paint over it again!'

Updated July 2008