Lia Cook

Lia Cook is an American fiber artist noted for her work combining weaving with photography, painting, and digital technology. She lives and works in Berkeley, California, and is known for her weavings which expanded the traditional boundaries of textile arts. She has been a professor at California College of the Arts since 1976.

Education Cook graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1965 and went on to earn a master's degree in 1973. After studying theater at San Francisco State University, Cook received a BA degree in political science from University of California, Berkeley in 1965. During her time there, she studied painting and ceramics, in addition to political science. She went on to receive a MA degree in design from the University of California, Berkeley in 1973. During this time, she studied closely with textile artist, Ed Rossbach. In 1965 Lia travels to Mexico and encounters weaving in Chiapas and Oaxaca, It is during this period that Cook collects and is inspired by these textiles which set fourth her interest for weaving as an artistic practice. In 1967, Lia marries her first husband David Cook and they travel to Sweden together where she studies weaving from Northern Europe and the Soviet Union. Cook has completed several fellowships with the National Endowment for the Arts between 1974 and 1992. In 1976 Cook was commissioned by the Art in Architecture Program Fine Arts Collection U.S. General Service Administration to create "Spatial Ikat III" located at the Frank Hagel Federal Building in Richmond California. Cook was also an artist-in-residence at Pittsburgh University where she worked with TREND (Transdisciplinary Research in Emotion, Neuroscience, and Development) to create a body of work that researched Diffusion Spectrum Imaging. During this period Cook had her brain scanned using Diffusion Spectrum Imaging; these scans would later be incorporated into her textiles which went on display at Perimeter Gallery in 2014. Cook has since been interested with sensory sagacity and discovered that woven imagery activated brain activity most affected by touch. In 2006, Cook was once again commissioned by the U.S. General Service Administration to produce "Sons and Daughters" at the Joseph F. Weis, Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Her work, Presence/Absence: Touches II, was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Campaign.

Commissions "Sons and Daughters" 2006, located at Joseph F. Weis, Jr. U.S. Courthouse Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "Spatial Ikat III" 1976, Art in Architecture Program Fine Arts Collection U.S. General Service Administration, Galerie Les Drapiers, Liege, Belgium Lia Cook, Icones Jacquard, 2014 Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, IL Lia Cook, Neuro Nets & Net Works, 2014

Public collections American Museum of Art and Design, NYC Cleveland Museum of Art Cleveland, Ohio Denver Art Museum Denver, Colorado French National Collection of Art, Paris, France Los Angeles, California Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC Parkes, Australia Oakland Museum of California Oakland, California Philbrook Museum of Art Washington, D.C. Toms Pauli Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland

Awards 1974, 1977, 1986, 1992 – Fellowships, National Endowment for the Arts 1990 – Artist's Fellowship Grant, California Arts Council 1993 – United States/Mexico Creative Artist's Residency, National Endowment for the Arts 1994 – French Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts 1996Distinguished Faculty Award, California Faculty Award, California College of Arts and Crafts 1998Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of California, Berkeley 2000Flintridge Foundation Fellowship 2003Artist's Fellowship Grant, California Arts Council 2008Gold Medal Award, Lausanne to Beijing 5th International Fiber Art Biennale Exhibition, Beijing, China 2010Artist Residence TREND group, Transdisciplinary Research in Emotion, Neuroscience and Development, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine 2011Center for Cultural Innovation, Investing in Artists grant for Artistic Innovation 2012Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF)