'Harvest of a quiet eye'
Heather Cooke, UK
I am very thankful that, from an early age, my parents fostered in me both a love of books and of the natural world around me. Some of my most treasured childhood books are those about plants and trees, reflecting memories of the gardens and open spaces I grew up in.

My mother taught me to appreciate fabric and threads through sewing, embroidery and knitting, while I shared my father’s love of architecture and design. Thus my fine art practice grew as a student, combining textiles and mixed media.

My current body of work started while I was living in a Georgian town house in Bath with my son and daughter. The central feature of the long back garden, which was enclosed by walls of bath stone, was a mature, rambling and rather stately apple tree. I started recording the changes through the seasons; from the tiny blossom buds which dropped before opening, to the ripe fruit nestling in the grass ready for storing or eating. Old gardening books provided wonderful images of both picking the fruit and then laying them in slatted wooden trays, providing plenty of material to combine with my own artwork.

In my work I seek to show details and depths which can so easily be overlooked. I see rhythm and mystery in day-to-day things that so many overlook due to the fast pace of life. I collect treasures unseen and seek to bring order to them, to show their hidden beauty. The more one looks, the more one can see. Since some of my work is presented as "series" or "multiples" it seems a natural progression to also present my work in artists’ book form: the harvest of a quiet eye’s observation.
heather_cooke1@hotmail.co.uk
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