Final Touches on Lia Cook Exhibition

Lia Cook: The Embedded Portrait in preparation
for public opening on Sat., May 23
Photo courtesy of the UW Art Museum

For nearly a decade, Lia Cook has created weavings that explorethe complex relationship between visual image, sensory stimulation, and emotional identification. Her portraits depicting larger-than-life children illustrate Cook’s exploration of the visual and physical realm where photographic likeness and textured textile meet. Her artistic investigations have followed diverse approaches that are expressed in her series, including Big Baby, Un/Mask, Traces, Binary Traces and Face Maze, all created from 2000 to the present.

Cook weds the early 19th century Jacquard weaving technique with contemporary digitial technology. Beginning with slides, photographs or video stills, she develops her imagery, couples it with digital technology, and creates specifically designed weaves that allow her to build the image thread by thread.

Cook will attend the public opening of her exhibition on May 29 and will present two public programs during her visit:

Gallery Walk Through, Friday, May 29, 10:30 am

Art Talk, Saturday, May 30, 10:30 am

These events and the opening reception on Friday, May 29, from 6 - 8 pm are free and open to the public.

Cook’s work has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in solo as well as group exhibitions, including the National Design Triennial: Design Life Now at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, and From Lausanne to Beijing, the 5th International Fiber Art Biennale Exhibition in Beijing, China. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. Cook is represented in museum collections around the world, including the Galerie Nationale de la Tapisserie et d'Art Textile, Beauvais, France; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. A native Californian, Cook is a Professor of Art at the California College of the Arts in Oakland. She lives in California.