“When I was young I was easily influenced by him”, “he told me that realistically it was never gonna work out, he didn’t respect it, he didn’t respect me, that was when i thought, it’s time for me to paint my own future.” Romilly Cook, a 19-year-old aspiring artist with over 3000 instagram followers, she is taking the art community by storm and we love it! Cook wanted to meet at a dinky, rustic cafe on New road side, Horsforth, Leeds where she is from. She greeted me with a welcoming hug and perched on the disintegrating leather stool in a paint splattered set of blue washed dungarees, paint floating in her hair. “Just been finishing up an art piece” she said in her distinct Yorkshire accent. Taking a sip of her oat milk flat white, she paused to discuss where her love of art stemmed from.
Romilly Cook’s love of art blossomed when she was a young child, she grew surrounded by her grandparents art as well as her mother’s creative flare, art was a way in which they communicated and a way in which they would spend time with each other. Romilly’s first experience with art was when she was 4, she would use oil paints to create art with her grandfather, her art pieces would be plastered across the walls in her grandparents house. Cook’s grandmother also encouraged her creative flare, teaching her how to sew and create valuable items out of fabric. Little did Romilly know that this would be her destiny. Romilly spoke highly of her mother, she told me she has 3 brothers and that all of them are creative in some way, she went on to say that no matter what they wanted to do with their lives her mother “always encouraged them to do what they love”.
While Romilly was surrounded and engorged by so much love and encouragement, she also faced doubt and hindrance by others around her. I asked Romilly if her father played a role in her journey as an artist, she told me that this was a sensitive topic for her, however was happy to proceed. Cook told me her father “didn’t believe you have a career in art, that it isn’t a real job. He said that realistically it’s never gonna work out, he didn’t respect it and didn’t respect me, but as I have gotten older I have realised that he just doesn’t understand me and that doing what I love is more important than trying to make someone else happy.”
Shortly after we took a break and I asked her how she felt when she was accepted into her dream university, Glasgow School of Art, she immediately removed her half eaten brownie from her mouth and giggled with excitement. “It was a big f**k you! She said, “when you’ve been told all your life that you’ll never be good enough and now you are a part of this community, you know that something is going right and that there is hope. Throughout the interview Romilly placed an emphasis on “an incredible artist” who she idolises, “John Berger’s writing really made me start to think in abstract and interpretive ways and he has given me a new perspective, actually no, I have given myself that perspective, has just guided me along the way.” She added.
Through being at the Glasgow School of Art, Romilly has come to the realisation that there is no right way to create, that with every new topic there is a new way of creating. Oil painting, sewing, paper maché, there are endless ways in which you can create, because of the many ways in which you can express your artistic capabilities, Romilly places importance that she is still finding herself as an artist and that’s ok. “To enter the world of art is a risk and it will be scary, most artists go through it and you have to in order to succeed” she concluded. Cook then took one last sip of her oat mil flat white, and walked home to finish her painting.
