exhibitions & events 2023

Ashley Cook

Seeing the Burning Bush

"I have always felt best in places which were not built up or heavily concreted; locations where people live more in harmony with nature.

The dominance of materialist thinking seems to have damaged our sense of wonder about nature and our place within it - our connection to it has become too remote.

This collection of work is inspired by the idea that we are in a process of the re-enchantment of nature.

See more works from this exhibition

In this late hour there seems to be an awakening and many are rediscovering the beauty of nature as something central to life. It seems that many of us hope to move us away from the manipulation of nature and reorient ourselves to different metaphors and sources of inspiration to develop a new ethical stance toward our world. It’s a time to reconsider the impulses that have fed our relentless ambition for dominance over nature and see ourselves more as one of the branches of life connected to other living things.

I am interested in 'Ogham - the Celtic Tree' calendar with 13 lunar months and the pagan 'Wheel of the Year', with annual cycles of festivals observing chief solar events and the procession of the seasons. I feel more and more drawn to thought processes which observe these cycles and bring us into line with the natural world and the ancient rhythms we find there.

Recently I was commissioned to illustrate Scottish plants by a herbalist forager and I learned more about the wealth of healing properties we can find around us in the green world. ‘Seeing The Burning Bush’ is a homage to our natural world and all its magical properties."

Ashley Cook, 2023

Ashley Cook was born Edinburgh 1964. She studied at Glasgow School of Art, graduating with First Class BA Hons in 1986, going on to do Postgraduate Printmaking in 1987. Following her studies, she was Screenprinting Technician from 1987-1990, then Lecturer in Printmaking from 1990-1995 at Glasgow School of Art.

Cook has continued her practice throughout winning awards, undertaking international artist residencies and exhibiting internationally. She has received awards from The British Council, The Scottish Arts Council, The Lady Artist Club Trust, Glasgow Art Club, The Icelandic Cultural Council, The Mexican Cultural Council and a Kate & Robert Wilson Town Award.

After leaving employment at GSA in 1995 she taught night classes and workshops in screenprinting at Glasgow Print Studio and worked in the GPS gallery shop until 2004. Following this she was Project Co-ordinator for The Scottish Academy of Asian Arts, running Glasgow Mela from 2004 to 2008. She volunteered in The Gambia from 2008 to 2010, establishing a Centre for Children at Juffereh which is still open, after this project she resettled in Glasgow and her journey became more internal.

Ashley produces her work at Glasgow Print Studio and has a WASPS studio nearby at the Briggait. Her current passion is making decks of Tarot and playing cards which sell worldwide. Throughout her career she has worked in collage, screenprinting, monoprinting and digital imaging.

Image: Ashley Cook, 'Burning Bush', 2022, digital pigment print, 23 x 23 cm. Ashley Cook, 'Wild Things', 2022, digital pigment print, 40 x 40 cm.