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Unlimited Imagination
Gabriel Coke
MAY 3 - AUG 10
Will be on View in the
Marquee:
Seaside Circle Ducks, 2021, oil on wood
Cowell Room Gallery
Overview
Gabriel Coke is native to Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Gabriel is a father, a practicing artist, a teacher and advocate for his students. He enjoys teaching and giving lecture demonstrations.
Gabriel pursued private studies in ateliers since the mid 1990’s. He began in Seattle, Washington and continued to Santa Fe, New Mexico, France, Norway and New York City. From those many years of study he acquired the knowledge to become a well practiced artist and teacher. Gabriel taught constantly in his own atelier from 2012 to 2020.
For a decade Gabriel’s life has been devoted to working inside a studio that developed its own unique community. Knowledge, friendship and family have been combined with a world class field of professional teaching artists.
As an Atelier Program Director Gabriel benefits from being a father to two incredibly gifted teenage children. Gabriel’s teaching philosophy begins with creating an ideal studio environment. He wants students to be in the best possible position to get the most of their potential. Gabriel is highly motivated to prepare for each class with a passionate love for detail and forethought. The atmosphere in the studio is part of a successful formula. Students are always given expert instruction by lecture and demonstration and they are given a healthy amount of personal space and freedom. Students focus and work for long spans of time. The results are truly remarkable as the achievements of young students are often far greater than is expected.
Hundreds of students have worked for several years in small groups and many are currently attending art schools and colleges in the United States and abroad. Some have even finished college and have families, and still regard their time in Gabriel’s atelier as very fortunate.
Artist Statement
Gemini Jack Gabriel Coke
Born 1969
Durango, Colorado
The art of drawing and painting is a vital experience for human beings. When done well it leaves a trace of consciousness embedded in the artwork. Making art may be about finding the space to create. We have an artistic space in the corners of our mind, body and spirit. The freedom to explore and roam our imagination is a sacred and timeless activity.
There is also a physical outward space we inhabit as artists. If not in nature, then in the special enclosure of an art studio. It may be a room in a house or a garage, or if we are fortunate, inside a lovingly arranged and functional art studio with great lighting, packed full of art supplies and inspiring objects. Where thoughtful care has been taken to create the best possible conditions, we feel more settled for exploring that space within ourselves. When we escape from the worry and haste of everyday life and responsibilities, we sense our lungs filling and releasing and then suddenly, like walking barefoot on a beach, we feel like ourselves again. That is how good it feels to be in the flow state at an easel drawing or painting for that peaceful time.
Being creative is the best time in anyone's day, or week or life. It is the connection to thoughts and ideas that need our full attention. That is when creativity and imagination are in full bloom. That is when a pear or a rubber duck looks incredibly full of nuance and beauty. Things look more interesting. Music sounds better. Texture and color and light seem increasingly vivid and clear. Motion takes a break to be still for us to observe and capture. Noise and clamor subside and an apple or a wedge of cheese looks more beautiful. Studying nature and reality as an artist is the work we take on to enjoy the benefit of seeing the imaginary ideas floating inside our own minds.
In the gallery here is a large painting I finished in 2011. I was just beginning my teaching years at what is now Art Students' Atelier. The painting has a foreground that is a still life of objects found in nature. I arranged it in my studio to paint from observation. The landscape in the distance was made completely from imagination. It was formed from memories of my younger days hiking and golfing in northern California. I made that painting as a leap of faith into my own imagination. The adventure for me was to rediscover drawing and painting from make-believe. It restored that joy I had as a child when everything I drew was made up. Years of practice with master teachers in ateliers had helped me build some skill but my paintings were not about anything. A painting can be beautiful and be a pleasure to create and still have no meaning or message. Leap of Faith was practice for getting back into a creative space inside my own imagination.
I have taught for almost fifteen years now and I always tell younger students to keep their imagination alive. Use it. Figure out how it works. Practice your skills to make something look realistic, but incorporate something from an idea or a thought. Even if it is simple, it comes from you and your imagination is something to rely on for the rest of your life. Imagination can help you look ahead and create your future.