PJ Crook MBE (born 1945) is an English painter and sculptor.
From a studio opposite her house, she manages compositions on a monumental scale - paintings can measure 2 × 4.5 metres and also paints small pictures, some no larger than 10 cm square. She works in tinted gesso, acrylic and sometimes in oil on canvas. She often paints crowds, either in motion in urban environments or standing still reading newspapers, many of which are on undulating 3D corrugated structures as with "The Smell of the Horse, the Roar of the Crowd" (coll. Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum), "Other Mothers' Sons" (coll. Imperial War Museum, London), "Paper Hat" and "The Kiss" (coll. Morohashi Museum of Modern Art, Japan). These have led onto her three dimensional sculptures mainly constructed out of found objects.
PJ is a Patron of the National Star College Cheltenham; a Patron of Linc; a Patron of Artshape; a sometime Trustee and director of ACS (the Artists' Collecting Society); Patron of Cheltenham Open Studios; a Gloucestershire Ambassador; President of the Friends of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum; member of the Royal West of England Academy; Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. She is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club and the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire.
PJ has an honorary Doctor of Arts from the University of Gloucestershire and is an honorary vice President of Gloucestershire College. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to art.
The Small Paintings Group © 2024
