Janet Cook
Janet A. Cook has exhibited widely in galleries and institutions, including the United Nations, NY. Over the years she has garnered many awards for excellence, including a finalists in the Arc Center Renewal and The Portrait Society of America 2017; Two awards at the Portrait Society of America Annual Member Show, a Gold and Silver medal from the Allied Artists of America and The Salmagundi Club; a Master Circle Medal award from The International Association of Pastel Societies, Best in Show from the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club. Cook is an elected member of the Salmagundi Club, Pastel Society of America, The Allied Artists of America, Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club and America Artists Professional League.
Cook’s work has been featured in the New York Times weekend section and reviewed and in the Times of Trenton, NJ, The Artist’s Magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur, The Brooklyn Rail, NYArtbeat.com events section, Artdaily.org, The Epoch Times, The American Art Collector, American Artist Magazine, the Gallery and Studio Magazine, The Times Square Chronicle, TheGreatNude.tv, Fine Art Connoisseur, NBC’s “Dateline” program: “The Da Vinci Code”, The Pastel Journal, The New York Optimist, Drawing Magazine and the International Artist Magazine. She has also written and been written about by the Art Students League online Linea magazine and the International Artist Magazine. Her portraits have appeared on the front covers of Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, the Art Students League Lines Magazine and in Poets and Artists Magazine.
Cook is currently an instructor at the Art Students League, New York, where she teaches, a portrait and figure painting class, along with workshops in pen and ink. Since 2010 she has taught at the Pastel Society of America, NYC. Recently, she taught workshops in France and has been a guest lecturer at the Southern University of Utah. In the past few years she has been invited to judge and jury numerous shows at a number of arts organizations and currently serves as a member of the Art Committee at the Salmagundi Club. She also participated in the Salmagundi online Interview series which can now be found on YouTube.
Cook studied at the National Academy of Art and Design and Art Students League, NYC, and attended the residency program with the Pratt Institute in Venice, Italy. She has a degree with honors in the History of Art from de Montfort University, UK. Her work is in many private collections in the US, UK, Panama, Israel and in the permanent collection of the Trenton City Museum, NJ.
Artist’s Statement:
The common thread throughout my work is a fascination with the figure; it’s timeless, beautiful and powerful. Additional inspiration comes from a variety of sources ranging from the old masters to modern-day advertising, graffiti and body art. My goal is to combine these elements, along with my own imagination into a strong cohesive statement that intrigues and engages the viewer.