Selected Artist: BRENT COOKE

Victoria, British Columbia artist Brent Cooke's love of nature inspires his art.

Starting in his teens, he progressed from carving wood to photography to carving soapstone, and now, sculpting in bronze.

The Brent Cooke CastArt Studio specializes in producing limited-edition highly detailed wildlife bronze sculptures with a focus birds and marine life, such as leopard sharks and squid.
It is important to Cooke that each piece conveys a story or engages the viewer. He strives for anatomical accuracy and detail and often portrays the subject in motion to bring it to life.

Influenced by Art Noveau/Art Deco design, Brent believes that a sculpture has been successful when the viewer is drawn in to touch it, making the experience of appreciation more complete.

Brent began working at the Royal British Columbia Museum in 1973 where he amassed an extensive underwater photographic file of 14,000 marine life images. Many of these won international awards and have been published in numerous forms from coffee table books to posters, to school textbooks. Since 1988 he has served as Director of Public Programs.