Brett Cook

Brett Cook is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who uses storytelling as a vehicle to distill complex ideas, and creative practices to transform outer and inner worlds of being. Using inquiry-based approaches, he designs inclusive processes and products that promote awareness and embody the complexity of loving communities. His objects feature painting, drawing, photography, and elaborate installations to tell pluralistic stories with broad representation. His public projects typically involve community workshops featuring arts-integrated pedagogy and contemplative strategies along with music, performance, and food to create fluid boundaries between art making, daily life, and healing.

Teaching and public speaking are extensions of his social practice that involve communities in dialogue to generate experiences of reflection and insight. He has received numerous awards including the Lehman Brady Professorship at Duke and the University of North Carolina, the Richard C Diebenkorn Fellowship at the San Francisco Art Institute and the inaugural Senior Fellow of visual arts at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Recognized for a history of socially relevant, community engaged projects, he was selected as cultural ambassador to Nigeria as part of the US Department of State’s smARTpower Initiative.  His work is in private and public collections including the Smithsonian/National Portrait Gallery, the Walker Art Center, and the Studio Museum of Harlem. Brett is currently a California Arts Council Legacy Artist Fellow administered by Youth Speaks, Inc.

Programs:

• P L A C E Closing Symposium