Cheryl Cook Australia

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I am an Australian artist based in Gippsland, Victoria. Working with natural inks, earth pigments, paint and cloth, I explore relationships with place and the ways sustained attention changes perception. Observation, play and experimentation guide a practice in which material behaviour and unexpected discoveries influence the work, and creating in turn changes what I notice.

My practice has developed through a sustained relationship with the remnant bushland surrounding my studio in Gippsland, Victoria. It is grounded equally in investigating place and materials, and in exploring how attention shapes artistic perception. These are not separate strands: what I notice influences what I create, while working with materials alters what I see when I return to the bush.

I work across cloth, paper and canvas using natural inks derived from vegetation, earth pigments and commercially produced paints. My process involves investigating how materials interact, the marks and surfaces they produce, and the possibilities that emerge when outcomes are not predetermined. Playfulness, experimentation and serendipity are fundamental to this approach. I establish conditions for discovery, allowing the behaviour of materials to contribute to the direction of the work.

My creative process is rarely linear. An artwork may develop through successive layers, alterations or the combining of previously created pieces. Sometimes a work is set aside for months or years before another possibility becomes apparent.

Attention is an equally important part of my practice. Walking familiar ground, I am increasingly aware of the extraordinary complexity of what initially appears ordinary: overlapping leaves, fragments of bark, soil, stones and traces of seasonal change. These encounters lead to investigations through drawing, printing, painting, collage and the incorporation of natural materials.

I am interested not only in what I observe but also in how sustained attention changes my perception. Noticing, thinking, feeling and responding become part of an ongoing exchange between the environment, the materials and my developing understanding. Each investigation can lead me back to familiar surroundings with different questions and a readiness to discover something previously overlooked.

Underlying my practice is a curiosity about how we come to recognise and value what surrounds us. I do not seek to prescribe a particular narrative or interpretation, preferring to leave space for the viewer's own perceptions and associations to emerge.