About Howie Cooke

Howie Cooke is a former trawlerman, sailor and tuna fisherman from New Zealand who began creating big oil paintings of whales in the mid 70s. He has dedicated his life to cetacean freedom ever since. 

His work once took him to the South Pacific where he was employed as set painter on the mainstream feature film the “The Bounty” (Tahiti, 1982) and his full-time return to whale painting is marked via his solo exhibition “Whales, Dolphins and Chaos”, held in London in 1990. 

“Whaletipi” is among his most recognised art projects, having been seen by more than 100,000 people in 15 countries. 

To date, Howie's work has featured in more than 150 exhibitions.

"Art is important," says Cooke. "It is a language that transcends cultural divides. It is universal in its appeal and the way it can speak to anyone. It is expression and a way of sharing." 

Howie's contributions as an artist on the Transparency USA will be prolific - not just in number, but also in size, location and style.

He says: "Along with our contributing artists, we'll be creating murals, painting surfboards, working with prints and woodblocks, creating filmic pieces and working with found-materials."

In addition, Howie's whale tee-pee will find temporary residence in various locations throughout the course of the journey - a self-supporting banner that has accompanied its owner to more than 15 countries and that has been seen by more than 100,000 people.

Expect also to see Howie's live-art speed muraling at one or more or all of the various TransparentSea functions. 
Respect.

A favourite quote of Howie's is this:

"Not enough time to everything
Plenty of time to do anything
Just enough time do something."

There's wisdom and motivation in such words.
Heed them.

About whales, Howie adds:

"There's a fascination ... they are so intelligent and so compassionate and they live in a realm whereby they've managed to remove themselves from a lot of the issues that continually confound humans, like territory and shelter. They are able to demonstrate back to us our highest ideals."

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