John Cooke

Biography

John Cooke set up his studio in Dentdale in 1976, after teaching in East Anglia. He was brought up in Stoke-on-Trent and studied painting at Stoke-on-Trent College of Art where he gained the National Diploma in Design and Painting at Special Level.

His landscapes are wide-ranging, with an emphasis on Dentdale and the Lake District. All aspects of painting interest him, including portraits and figure studies and he enjoys using a variety of media. A sense of light is one of his chief aims and for this reason water, snow and sunlit cottages frequently appear as subject matter.

Many of his paintings have been used in a commercial context as posters, cards and calendars commissioned by Shell, London Transport and Royle Publications. He has exhibited at numerous London and provincial galleries and his work is also represented in the permanent collection of Stoke-on-Trent City Art Gallery and is bought and collected by people from all walks of life.