Susan Cook’s upcoming “Alive” exhibit at the Buenaventura Gallery is a joyous, inspirational journey as seen through the eyes of an artist. “Alive” will be on view June 19 to July 14 at the downtown Ventura gallery operated by the nonprofit Buenaventura Art Association.

A reception for the artist will be held 4-7 p.m. Saturday, June 23. In addition, Cook will be present during First Friday Gallery Crawl from 5-8 p.m. July 6.

“Life erects hurdles,” says Cook. “For me, they appeared out of the blue and at first insurmountable, but the future moves forward, so the question remained: How to get over the hurdles. I chose to focus on the people, events and places which remind me that life is worth the effort.”

Her piece Why Can’t I Fly originated from a wish to be able to fly away that she found personified in the exuberance of a child. Through this child, Cook realized that in childhood, all things are possible — including flight. Cook’s spontaneous combinations of color and shape reflect the importance she places on the structure of the composition and the sensual effect color has on the viewer.

The progression of the paintings is a journey through a broad range of emotional, intellectual and technical territories. The vibrant colors play interchangeably between background and foreground, redefining the elements within the images and obscuring detail to convey a feeling about the moment that will change for onlookers as each brings his or her own perceptions to the work.

“When I look back on my creative experience, there is no official starting point,” says Cook. “It was always integrated into my life but never known as ‘Art.’ School projects were usually illustrated to the hilt and my bedroom window was transformed into an easel more than once.”

Cook drifted in and out of art classes throughout her family’s busy life and became a re-entry student at Ventura College in 1998. She says her life is best summed up in the words of an anonymous poet: “The future is not someplace we are going to but one we are creating. The paths to it are not found but made and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.”

Cook is a well-known artist in Ventura County. She won the City of Ventura Mayor’s Arts Award as Artist in the Community in 2011. She was a Ventura ArtWalk featured artist (the 2004 Harvest ArtWalk) and has been invited to exhibit at 643 Project Space, the Ventura Music Festival and other venues. She is vice chairwoman of the City of Ventura’s Public Art Commission and an advisory board member at Bell Arts Factory. She has paintings in numerous private and public collections throughout the United States.

Examples of her work can be found at www.susancook.com.

The Buenaventura Gallery is at 700 E. Santa Clara St. Hours are noon-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, visit www.buenaventuragallery.org.