Sadie Cornette Cook’s artistic growth lands her at Yale

Editor’s note: This alumni profile was written as Sadie Cornette Cook embarked on her journey as a freshman studying photography at Yale University, and as a new graduate of UNCSA’s Visual Arts program. In May 2020, she completed her degree at Yale and graduated cum laude with distinction. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Iceland in the winter of 2020 and earned Yale’s Louis Sudler Prize.

From the prize announcement: “To say that Sadie Cornette Cook is a photographer barely scratches the surface of her varied, deeply personal, and multilayered studio art practice. She is a Photographer with a capital “P,” who lives and breathes cameras, lenses, and scanners, but one who also weaves in performance, sculpture, time-based media, bookmaking, and poetry into her work. ...her constant presence in the critiques and studios at the School of Art these past four years has fed her practice—and, in turn, those of her peers—in a deep and meaningful way, and she has made an impression on our community as an exceptional young artist.”

When Sadie Cornette Cook (HS Visual Arts '16) submitted her portfolio to Yale, the interviewer told her that if she interviews 20 candidates and five seem incredible, only one would get a chance at Yale. 

Welcome to Yale, Ms. Cook!

So how did this visual arts student beat out other Yale applicants to study photography — a subject not taught at UNCSA?

“My classes in drawing, design and sculpture made me a far better photographer than I could ever have been otherwise,” Cook says. “Art is art, no matter the medium. And at UNCSA they certainly teach you art.”

Art is art, no matter the medium. And at UNCSA they certainly teach you art.

Sadie Cornette Cook

To Will Taylor, Director of the Visual Arts program, the idea of the school producing top-notch photographers is not surprising.

“We teach a way of seeing,” Taylor says. “While we don’t teach photography, we teach design and composition. It is everything that is within a frame. What fits in a frame? How does it fit within a frame? How do you establish yourself in there? How do you set a mood or atmosphere?”

From ‘middling’ to exceptional

Cook grew up on a farm near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There, her love for creating and experimenting with different forms of expression was nurtured by her mom, who is an art teacher. She learned about UNCSA’s high school Visual Arts program through her school’s art teacher.

She recalls her interview to be accepted in the Visual Arts program:

“There were 10 other students in the room with their portfolios laid out. I asked my mom how she thought my work compared to everyone else’s. She looked around, paused, then said ‘about middling.’ This was not something I wanted to hear. But I took a deep breath and went on to speak with articulation and a genuine interest in my own and other’s work.”

Taylor recalls Cook’s interview. There was some photography, some drawings, but what stood out was that there was a lot of work to show.

“The quality of the work was not as important as her drive and motivation to articulate her passion,” he says. “She could really speak about ideas. She’s very open to information, she’s very well-read. She was a great communicator and I think all of those things helped. We can teach the technical to those who are driven or have the passion there. Our job is to break things down for them and to enable them with the skill sets they need and with the eye that they need.”

Cook excelled in her art – winning three of the five American Vision Awards in the regional competition and the Best Portfolio award and numerous other awards while studying in the two-year program. She and other students landed 69 awards, including four top awards, in the Scholastic Art & Writing Competition in 2016.