The aroma of coffee and the sound of idle chatter fill the space around our table. Sirens send conversations to a halt as heads turn to the front window. Figures of fire trucks and an ambulance blur down Hanover Street for a reason unknown to us.
Recovering from the loud noise still in our heads, we begin speaking again.
“It’s simple here,” she says. “After moving around trying to find excitement….” She trails off then takes a breath. “I couldn’t find my soul.”
As a child, artist Aron Rook began her artistic instruction in Carlisle at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.
“Art became an immediate interest,” Rook says, explaining how she left ballet to pursue classes at the Art Association of Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg Art Center. Her initial interest gelled into a passion that led to an illustration program at Rhode Island School of Design and the Pennsylvania Governor School’s sculpture program, all before completing high school.
She next earned a degree in illustration and fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore and then found herself on the road, traveling from Raleigh to New York to Pittsburgh, before returning to her roots and replanting herself in Carlisle.
Rook acknowledges that “it has taken a community to keep going” despite the rich talent, inspiration and imagination that exists within her. She explains her battles against criticism, critique and even herself that kept everything dormant for periods of time.
“A challenge has been doing the thing I love, but getting through the bad days,” she states. “My entire being struggles with it. It’s such a part of me, and I can’t separate from it.”
What Hurts
Rook finds it a constant trial determining and organizing which ideas to express and how exactly to create art from the freshness of an idea.
“My imagination is always alive, and, while vast, I think I’m only at 10 percent,” she says. “I want to stretch it further—further than the known and unknown universe. This is where my art begins.”
While she fears setbacks, Rook understands that, without them, her work would not exist. She recalled a time when a professor critiqued her drawing as “too pretty.” The class provoked question and doubt, but, during her final year at MICA, Rook submitted a piece to the Society of Illustrators that was selected and showcased at the “Student Scholarship” exhibition in New York City.
More recently, she enrolled with Klein Artist Works by Paul Klein, which provides live online webinars with reputable artists, collectors, curators and professionals who serve as resources, counselors and advisors to guide artists to build success. This resource, paired with a new non-profit in town, The Charles Bruce Foundation, which supports and funds artists, writers and musicians, has greatly influenced Rook this past year.
“It’s a sphere of contacts and influences,” she says.
As per influences—she suddenly mentions her admiration for Picasso. “And you know who else?” she says. “Charlie Chaplin! I like the underlying despair. His art is distinct.”
Endless Cycle
Within the last year, Rook has created a VIP database to better communicate with followers, admirers and audiences that encounter her creations. It provides an opportunity for her fan base to see new projects that are coming; learn valuable tricks and techniques; and earn discounts on pieces of art.
With the Carlisle community behind her, Rook now devotes her time and energy on large-scale paintings with bright, vivid colors, along with pen-and-black-ink drawings. Over the holidays, she introduced Gourdnaments, gourds made into ornaments, which were not only symbolic but custom-made upon request.
“There are a few projects that I’ve been thinking about for years,” she says. “But they [have] yet to come into the physical world.”
She also has decided to help others by teaching at Carlisle Art Learning Center (CALC). The class, which is for students without formal art training, is based on optimizing personal expressions and individual artistic sensitivities, says Rook.
In recent years, her artwork has shown at CALC, as well as at the Time Bomb and Thought Lot Contemporary Arts Center in Shippensburg, among other places.
Her work demonstrates a natural growth, the result of a continual urge to improve her technique and shape her skills while feeding the spirit.
“Nothing is final; everything is a point of growth, a lesson for the next piece,” Rook says. “During my practice, thinking is different. My concentration level is at its highest, yet my mind feels completely flexible and open. But then comes a time when the flow stops, and there is a puzzle, a knot, a challenge. This can be extremely frustrating and disheartening. The great idea is now like a sad flapjack lying on a dirty floor.”
But starting over creates a fresh slate to make it even better. The cycle is endless and, to keep the momentum, there is a need to translate her ideas, even if fragmented, into the physical world.
Rook reminds herself that failure is no longer a fear, because the universe will catch her.
Learn more about Aron Rook’s art at her Facebook page: Aron Rook Art. Her work also can be viewed monthly in TheBurg.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified one of the artists who influenced Rook. He is Charlie Chaplin, not Charlie Chapman. A quote about a piece of art that “needed more soul,” attributed inaccurately to Rook’s former professor, has also been removed. Additionally, one of Rook’s road stops was Raleigh, not Charlotte, as stated in the original article.
