WISCASSET — Andrew M. Cook will be featured at a meet the artist event from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 29, at BIRCH, 72 Main St., during the Wiscasset Art Walk.

Cook has been drawing his entire life and more recently of a familiar local crustacean. Back in 2011, he left his corporate day job to pursue a more intimate lifestyle with his wife and two young children and quickly decided the Maine lobster needed a creative spin with a touch of wikud guwad humah.

Lady Lobster, a themed lobster drawing by Andrew M. Cook. Contributed photo

Artist Andrew M. Cook specializes in themed lobsters. A meet the artist event is set for 5-8 p.m. Thursday at BIRCH, 72 Main St., during the June 29 Wiscasset Art Walk. Contributed photo

The Maine lobster is recognized and sought after worldwide. However, Andrew noticed a similar pattern when frequenting the many gift and souvenir shops sprinkled along the coast of Maine: many of the various lobster products were all red (cooked), too similar, too cartoony, or too clichéd. Cook’s “outta the trap” creative mind started racing in mid-July.

He started with an outline of a lobster, which quickly became a series, and ultimately, a carefully considered obsession. Buoys, flowers, ice cream and sea glass all made for a perfect lobster hybrid, and in the early days, they did just what he had hoped they would: stop people, pull them in and make them smile while reaching for their wallets. He knew he was onto something special.

Over the past seven years, he has produced more than 200 unique and unusual lobster designs and illustrations. He has taken an idea and morphed it into a full-time business selling signed prints, calendars and hundreds of thousands of note cards.

For more information, contact Brad Sevaldson at BIRCH, 561-542-9407 or birchmaine@gmail.com.

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