AGP Member Spotlight: Lynette Cook

For those of you who don’t know her, Art Guild of Pacifica Member Lynette Cook is an accomplished fine artist and self-described over achiever who began her formal education juggling a love for art with a love of science.  Rather than choose, however, she embraced both and graduated from California College of the Arts with an MFA in drawing, specializing in scientific illustration. 

As a self-employed artist, Lynette enjoys the privilege of working with esteemed scientists, the most notable of which is Dr. Geoff Marcy, an astrophysicist who took part in the discovery of over 2500 extrasolar planets to date.  An extrasolar planet is a planet discovered outside our solar system.  Lynette was given the opportunity to render many of those discoveries in paint and later using the computer.  As a result of these endeavors, Lynette’s illustrations have been published in many scientific journals and periodicals. Her work also has been published in a variety of formats produced by BBC Television, CNN, The Discovery Channel, Scientific American, NASA, Newsweek, and more.

I had the opportunity to sit and talk with Lynette recently.  We discussed where her art intersects with business, what motivates and inspires her, and we also discussed her battle with cancer.

Donna: Do you find your passion in your art?

Lynette:  I find some of it there certainly. But I would also say it’s tempered by the fact that my art has to be my business, and when art is a business and one has to think of it as a business, it brings the world into it in a way that perhaps creative people do not always prefer.  With the science illustration I’ve done, the client’s needs come first, certainly before any personal inspiration.  Perhaps I can put my own flair on the work to some degree, but nevertheless, I believe that science illustration is art in the service of science.

Also, the science illustration is so much intellectual stimulation.  It is about meeting the needs of others and doing what is accurate.   Science has to be accurate.  It isn’t really about having a personal vision of something or doing it on your own unilaterally.

Donna:  You have to bridle your talent.

Lynette:  Yes. From 1984 until 2009 that’s what I did.  I did a little fine art here and there, but frankly there wasn’t time for both.  As a professional artist of any kind, you’re supposed to keep producing new work and getting it out there.  Essentially, I would have to have two careers and time and energy for that, and of course, I didn’t.

Donna:  So you started doing more fine art ... did it make you feel better?

Lynette:  No, it made me feel worse!

(laughter)

Donna:  Why?

Lynette:  Well, I’ve been around the block as an artist.  Being a fine artist isn’t any easier if you’re going to make a living, to sell your work and get it out there.  I knew it was not an easy road, so there was a part of me that really didn’t want to acknowledge that fine art was calling me and that I had to respond.

Donna:  What I’ve discovered about art is that if you’re going to attach expectations to it, particularly to the outcome, you can be disappointed.

Lynette:  Well, I think that’s true with most things in life.

Donna:  I would rather not be bridled in my art the way you described it, although in my opinion you were doing so for all the right reasons, and you’ve gotten so much out of it in return.  You make a good living.  I’d like to know one thing.  If you remove the economic side of it, do you derive personal satisfaction from doing more fine art?

Lynette:  Quite a bit, yes.

Donna:  Tell me about the period of introspection you mention in your website’s biography.

Lynette: In 2009, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I thought, “What have I done wrong?”  I think it’s human nature to ask if this was caused by nonstick pans, too much meat and ice cream, or too little exercise. I tried to make some changes in my life.  I knew I had to find a constructive way to deal with it, and I was determined to get something positive out of it.  I couldn’t get totally lost in despair or anxiety.

Donna: I’ve never had cancer, but I can imagine it would be too easy to get despondent.

Lynette:  Oh it’s totally easy.  But, I said to myself, “What I’m going to do is pretend my cancer can talk, and I’m going to ask it what I need to do in my life to make the right change.” And so I asked it, “what can you tell me about my life that I need to deal with, to know, to question. What’s the message here?”  Then, I got into a workshop for cancer survivors, and we did meditation, and a lot of other good things.  I was dealing with my questions there, as well as on my own.

Donna:  Did you get an answer?

Lynette:  Well, yes.  I had been painting with pixels on a computer for a long time, and my heart was leading me back to fine art and painting with brush and paint on a physical canvas.

It’s also about getting in touch with inner thoughts and feelings, using imagery as a metaphor for one’s life experience.  I do the space art when a project comes along.  Now with the economy being what it is, there isn’t as much work as there once was, so that does allow me more time for painting.  I’m also doing things like applying for grants and working on my website and trying to do my blog.  All these things take time, so I’m not in the studio painting like I need to be.  Inventory is important.  One needs inventory!

Essentially, I have two kinds of work, and one group is what I had at the 50-50: things that I love around me and in the environment.  They’re fun and they’re beautiful, and they can be anything from a dessert that I just love to eat, it’s so fantastic, or a flower that I see when I am taking a walk or even a particular building.   The second group of work is historical brick and stone structures, which I find fascinating and challenging.

These are things in my environment that I take pleasure from.  My realistic style makes me tight with the detail, and I think it draws the viewer into it, and they really notice the detail with fresh eyes somehow.  So, that part is pure enjoyment.  I render images that I think are fun and beautiful and doing so gives me variety, and it helps me pay attention to what’s around me, too.

Part of having a life that I value and enjoy is seeing the little things because the big things don’t come around every day.

***

Since focusing on fine art, Lynette has experienced many successes, the most recent of which is being awarded a 2013 grant from the Capelli d’Angeli Foundation, which offers grants of up to $500 to women artists of specified disciplines who are or have been in treatment for cancer.  The accepted disciplines are painting, sculpture, all kinds of photography and mixed media.  Feel free to learn more by viewing the Foundation’s site at www.capellidangelifoundation.org.  Lynette also recently received Best in Show in the Richeson 75 Small Works 2013 exhibition in Kimberly, Wisconsin.  It comes with a sizable cash award, as well.  See more here.

I spoke with Lynette for almost an hour, and as much as I’d like to, I can’t include the entire transcript here.  While I thoroughly enjoyed our discussion, and found her character, determination, and strength engaging, there is one more detail I find most intriguing.

If there is one thing I feel we can count on in our modern times, other than change, that is, it’s irony.  If you look closely enough, you’ll see it everywhere. 

As it transforms the world, for example, technology lays low some of what we thought we could count on.  Publishing has been forever changed by electronic readers like the Nook and Kindle.  The irony is that both aspiring and accomplished authors can publish their own work and have it listed on Amazon.com in no time whatsoever.

Technology has changed the art world, as well, in significant ways, and not just by allowing the presence of virtual galleries.  While this isn’t the case with Lynette, who is extremely comfortable with both email and web design, for artists who don’t use email comfortably or at all, these changes can be daunting.  In the recent past, we’ve entered juried exhibitions by filling out an application in writing, photographing our work, mailing it all by good old snail mail (USPS) and allowing our talent to handle the rest.  Now, most juried exhibitions are expedited by programs designed just for that purpose, like callforentry.org, which was used for the upcoming Left Coast Annual at Sanchez Art Center. 

While it may be argued that digital photographs leave something to be desired in the jurying process, the upside is that the internet provides an artist with an increased presence via a website “storefront” and even a personal brand, making us more recognizable and easier to find.  It can also significantly extend an artist’s reach, allowing us to enter juried exhibitions all over the United States and even the world.  The irony is that anyone, despite talent or education, can declare themselves an artist and enjoy the perks the internet has to offer.

Lynette’s brush with irony came as she initially introduced her fine art into the gallery environment and was told that she shouldn’t be there because her history with science illustration wasn’t really art.  Even still, gallery staffs have been so bold as to claim Lynette is “just starting out” and should price her pieces accordingly.  She writes on her web page’s biography, “Up until the mid-2000s most of my space art was "original" in every sense, created by hand with pigment on paper. To my mind the "illustration versus fine art" distinction has many shades of gray, with no clear delineation of one from the other. I've exhibited these pieces in numerous exhibits at scientific and educational institutions, and many of my originals have been sold. Yet so far, astronomical art is not recognized by the fine art community of retail galleries and art museums.”

I encourage you to view Lynette's space art at http://extrasolar.spaceart.org/ and then view a full body of her fine art at http://www.lynetteinthestudio.com/.

The depth and realism of Lynette Cook's talent is unquestionable, and yet the validity of her fine art has been questioned.

To me, this proves that no matter what our personal challenges, even the most talented artist can be subject to the on-going debate between commercial art and fine art.

I find that most ironic.

By Donna L. Faber
Board Secretary
Art Guild of Pacifica
donnalouisefaber.com