Barbara Cooper

Email: barbaracooper2@gmail.com
Website: Barbara Cooper at Alfedena Gallery

I have a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan. Working fluidly between sculpture and drawing, my most recent solo exhibitions were at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington and the Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, both in 2007. I had a solo show at the Chicago Cultural Center in 2006. Other solo shows include Fassbender Gallery in Chicago; John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin; and the Hafnarborg Institute of Culture and Fine Art, in Iceland. Group exhibits include the Herron School of Art, Indianapolis; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Lemberg Gallery, Detroit; Zolla / Lieberman Gallery, Chicago; and the Cranbrook Art Museum, Michigan.

My residencies include the Kohler Arts / Industry Program, Yaddo, Macdowell, Ragdale, Blue Mountain Center, Montalvo, and the Camargo Foundation in France.

I recently completed public art commissions for the Avalon Library in Chicago and the Chicago Transit Administration, Brown Line Renovation. As a Chicago resident, I have received three Illinois Arts Council Fellowships. I am currently represented by Alfedena Gallery in Chicago, which has produced a 32-page color catalogue for the exhibition at the Bellevue Arts Museum.

Interview

Barbara Cooper’s ArtStyle Blog interview by Anna Joelsdottir was published in August, 2007.

Artist’s Statement

Nature is always my place to begin. I am drawn to how forms respond to the stresses they withstand and the obstacles they confront. Starting with observations of specific phenomena, I abstract the parallels I find in processes as diverse as the surge of lava, the creep of a glacier, the flow of water, or the growth of a tree.

My focus is on how a form records its growth process of evolving from one condition to another as it responds to its environment. This process of transformation, whether in the natural environment or in the realm of the cultural or the personal, is an essential aspect of life. It is the foundation upon which my work builds.

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