Artwork copyright Judy Cooke. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artwork copyright Judy Cooke. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission.

Red Desert, 1986

Judy Cooke
(American, born 1940)

Location: John R. Rogers High School, Spokane

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Red Desert is a monotype created by artist Judy Cooke. It is part of her series of monotypes inspired by an artist residency in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she spent time in the mountains. Cooke notes, "Sunsets over the Nevada desert are extremely intense in color and in diversity of cloud shapes. Much of the sky reflects on to the desert. This reflection, plus an interest in making a print that used a mix of physical materials, led me to this image."

Monotypes are unique prints created by painting directly onto the printing plate. Cooke then transferred the painted image onto red rice paper. She used sisal rope to block out some of the printed area, which created the spiral shape.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Spokane School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Portland, Oregon-based artist Judy Cooke creates abstract paintings, drawings, and prints.
Cooke studied printmaking at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, graduating in 1963. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts in 1965. She received a Master of Arts in Teaching from Reed College in Portland in 1970. A retrospective of her work was exhibited at the Art Gym at Marylhurst University in Oregon.