RANDE COOK August 6 to 26, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria

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"One's Vision"

Rande Cook, "One’s Vision," red cedar, acrylic paint, 2011.

RANDE COOK

August 6 to 26, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria

BY: Janet Nicol

Rande Cook’s summer exhibition, eight carved panels, is inspired by a previous exhibition of his paintings called Innovative Visions of the Formline. “No matter how we look at things around us, there is a string of energy flowing through it all,” Cook says about his striking and detailed designs. “As each design developed, I started to add more colour, a reflection of life unfolding and all its many gifts starting to appear in front of you. Each design represents a string of elements, each holding its own identity. It’s like us as humans — many races throughout the world but all the same energy. Cook was born in the northern Vancouver Island town of Alert Bay and now lives in Victoria. He has a mixture of N’amgis, Ma’amtagila and Mamalilikala tribal lineage, and is also influenced by his grandfather’s mastery of Kwakwaka’wakw design. “When I first thought about doing the Lines of Time design (representing strands of energy that run through everything in the world), I was coming from a place of tranquility,” he says. “Our Kwakwaka’wakw culture speaks of a higher power, with all of us on earth as equals, whether you’re human, animal, insect, the rivers that flow, or the trees that give.”