Barbara Cooper (born 1949) is an American artist whose practice encompasses abstract sculpture, public and installation art, drawing and set design.Craig, Gerry. "Barbara Cooper," ''Sculpture'', October 2000, p. 76.Miro, Marsha. "Sculptures by Barbara Cooper," ''Fiberarts'', January/February 2001, p. 56–7.Cassidy, Victor
''Artistic Collaboration Today: Profiles of Creative Teams in Diverse Media''
Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2019. She is most known for her sculpture, which emphasizes process, handcraft, and its basis in natural forms and processes of transformation, such as growth, protection and regeneration.Shermeta, Margo. "Contemporary Sculpture: A Question of Elegance," ''Fiberarts'', Summer 1991, p. 22–7.Abell, Jeff. "Barbara Cooper: Fassbender Gallery, Chicago," ''C'' International, November 1998–January 1999, p. 44.Leucking, Stephen. "Biomorphs: Organic Abstraction and the Mechanics of Life," ''Sculpture'', January/February 2000, p. 38–43.Cassidy, Victor. "Barbara Cooper at the Chicago Cultural Center," ''Art in America'', April 2007, p. 148. Critic Polly Ullrich writes that "Cooper's hand-intensive art is an art of condensation" that takes "the flow of time and growth as a subject";Ullrich, Polly. "Barbara Cooper: Layering Time," ''American Craft'', February/March 2000, p. 66–9. that quality often leads writers to align Cooper with

postminimalism Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. ...

.Thodos, Diane. "Barbara Cooper," ''New Art Examiner'', April 2001, p. 52.Snodgrass, Susan. "An Art of Essence: The Sculpture and Drawing of Barbara Cooper," Chicago: Northern Illinois University Art Museum, 1995. John Brunetti describes her work as "sinuous, tactile sculptures hatquietly juxtapose

conceptual Conceptual may refer to: Philosophy and Humanities *Concept *Conceptualism *Philosophical analysis (Conceptual analysis) *Theoretical definition (Conceptual definition) *Thinking about Consciousness (Conceptual dualism) *Pragmatism (Conceptual pr ...

and formal dichotomies, among them the organic and man-made, the feminine and the masculine, movement and stasis."Brunetti, John. "Barbara Cooper, re: Growth," ''Barbara Cooper, re: Growth'', Bellevue, WA: Bellevue Arts Museum, 2007. Cooper has exhibited at the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA), Hafnarfjördur Centre of Culture and Fine Art (Iceland), and

Bellevue Arts Museum The Bellevue Arts Museum is a museum of contemporary visual art, craft, and design located in Bellevue, Washington, part of the greater Seattle metropolitan area. A nonprofit organization established in 1975, the Bellevue Arts Museum (BAM) provides ...

, and been commissioned for public art works in cities including Chicago, Toledo, and Providence.''Luxe Magazine''. "Style Makers: The Naturalist, Barbara Cooper,” April 2010, p. 117–8.Fornek, Kimberly
"Hinsdale Library's latest addition is airborne,"
''Chicago Tribune'', April 10, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2019. Her work has been discussed in diverse publications, among them, ''

Art in America ''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It i ...

'', '' Arts Magazine'',Hixson, Kathryn. "Chicago in Review," ''Arts Magazine'', February 1989, p. 106–7. '' Sculpture'',Haddad, Amy. "Barbara Cooper," ''Sculpture'', December 2000, p. 69–70. ''Fiberarts''Sheply, Carol Ferring. "Innovations in Textile Art," ''Fiberarts'', November/December 1999, p. 49–53. and ''American Craft'',Rice, Robin. "Modus Operandi," ''American Craft'', February/March 1999, p. 66–9.Ullrich, Polly. "From Limb to Limb," ''New Art Examiner'', December 1999/January 2000, p. 46.McCracken, David. "Sculptors Share Flair for Experimentation," ''Chicago Tribune'', June 7, 1991, p. 74. and belongs to public art collections including the Smithsonian Museum, MCA Chicago, and Long Beach Museum of Art.Smithsonian American Art Museum
"Ova, Barbara Cooper,"
Artwork. Retrieved December 9, 2019.Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
"Barbara Cooper,"
Artists. Retrieved December 9, 2019.Catalani, Stefano. ''Barbara Cooper, re: Growth'', Bellevue, WA: Bellevue Arts Museum, 2007.

Early life and career

Cooper was born and raised in Philadelphia; her father was a biochemist and that influence is evident in her art.Lackey, Jane. "Barbara Cooper, Spiritus, 1990,
''Cranbrook Art Museum: 100 Treasures''
Bloomfield Hills, MI: Cranbrook Art Museum, 2004. Retrieved December 9, 2019. She studied fiber art at the

Cleveland Institute of Art The Cleveland Institute of Art, previously Cleveland School of Art, is a private college focused on art and design and located in Cleveland, Ohio. History The college was founded in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women, at firs ...

(BFA, 1974) and Cranbrook Academy of Art (MFA, 1977), before turning to sculpture influenced by artists such as Eva Hesse

Jackie Winsor Vera Jacqueline Winsor (born October 20, 1941) is a Canadian-born American sculptor. Her style, which developed in the early 1970s as a reaction to the work of minimal artists, has been characterized as post-minimal, anti-form, and process art ...

, and Giuseppe Penone and the Arte Povera movement. After graduating, she headed

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

's fiber department, before moving to Bozeman, Montana in 1979 for a position teaching sculpture and drawing at

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

.Cox, Erinn
"Artist Barbara Cooper Reveals the Invisible: In Art, In Nature, In Life,"
''Louise & Maurice'', June 29, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2019. In 1986, she relocated to Chicago, where she has taught at the Art Institute of Chicago (1987–2009) and Harper College (1988–2001).Sundell, Ivy
''Living Artists''
Crow Woods Publishing, 2005, p. 58–59. Retrieved December 9, 2019. During her first decade of professional exhibition, Cooper was featured in solo shows at the Yellowstone Art Museum (1985),

Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...

(1985) and

Artemisia Gallery Artemisia Gallery was an alternative exhibition space in Chicago, Illinois, that operated from 1973 until its closure in 2003. History The gallery was a cooperative, started by 20 women who were frustrated by the lack of opportunities for femal ...

(Chicago, 1987, 1988), and group shows at the

Evanston Art Center The Evanston Art Center is an arts center in Evanston, Illinois offering classes, lectures, exhibitions, and community outreach. It is among the oldest and largest arts centers in Illinois. History The Evanston Art Center was founded in Octobe ...

Hyde Park Art Center The Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC) is a visual arts organization and the oldest Alternative exhibition spaces, alternative exhibition space in the city of Chicago. Since 2006, HPAC has been located just north of Hyde Park Boulevard, at 5020 S.Cornell ...

and Randolph Street Gallery, among others.McClelland, Elizabeth. "Powerful and Perverse," ''Cleveland Edition'', April 4–10, 1985. In her later career, the Chicago Cultural Center (1994, 2006), Hafnarfjördur Centre (2003), John Michael Kohler Arts Center (2004), Bellevue Arts Museum (2007), and Gerald Peters (Santa Fe), Fassbender and Perimeter (both Chicago) galleries have held solo exhibitions of her work; she was also featured in the Smithsonian's "High Fiber" exhibition (2005). Cooper lives and works in Chicago.

Work and reception

Critics often relate Cooper's work to postminimalist sculptors such as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Eva Hesse, Lenore Tawney and Jackie Winsor, who merged feminist concerns with process, the organic and craft with minimalist codes of repetition, geometric purity, and restraint. Writers also place her among a second generation of organic sculptors (including

Joan Livingstone Joan Livingstone (born 1948) is an American contemporary artist, educator, curator, and author based in Chicago. She creates sculptural objects, installations, prints, and collages that reference the human body and bodily experience. Education ...

and Sheri Simons) who brought a new conceptual orientation and reductive elegance to fiber-related work,Nawrocki, Dennis Alan. "Barbara Cooper," Detroit, MI: Center for Creative Studies, 1992. or liken her art to that of

Martin Puryear Martin L. Puryear (born May 23, 1941) is an American artist known for his devotion to traditional craft. Working in wood and bronze, among other media, his reductive technique and meditative approach challenge the physical and poetic boundaries ...

. Cooper's work across media is united by several common themes: its basis in and abstraction of natural forms, temporal systems and patterns; a sense of movement that includes gesture, line and the activation of space; and its exploration of process and diverse materials.Carlisle, Susanna. "Affinity to Form: Artists Working in Wood," ''THE Magazine'', November 2003, p. 41.Arechiga, Francisco. ""Barbara Cooper," ''THE Magazine'', July 2007, p. 41. Curator Mary Jane Jacob wrote that "Cooper is fascinated by the 'brain' of nature," the way organisms respond to external stresses and need by producing unique growth patterns and distortions in order to build strength and resilience, repair and re-balance.Jacob, Mary Jane. "Undulating Memories of Time," Royal Oak, MI: Sybaris Gallery, 2000. In her mature, post-1987 work, Cooper employs working methods derived from both her early fiber training—plaiting and the organic, linear build of spinning and weaving—and studies of accretive natural phenomena, such as

animal architecture Structures built by animals, often called animal architecture, abound in nature. Examples of animal structures include termite mounds, wasp and beehives, burrow complexes of rodents, beaver dams, elaborate nests of birds, and webs of spiders. ...

, the growth of trees, or geological forces.Howard, Martha. "The Tension of Containment: A Sculpture Invitational," ''New Art Examiner'', January 1992, p. 35.Fariello, M. Anna and Paula Owen, eds.
''Objects and Meaning: New Perspectives in Art and Craft''
Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2004, p. 197. Retrieved December 9, 2019.

Sculpture

After moving to Chicago in 1987, Cooper began working with veneer scraps recycled from woodworking factories; the material connected her art to the greater ecological whole through a life cycle of extraction from nature, industrial processing and discard, and transformation into organic aesthetic forms.Hawkins, Margaret. "Elmhurst museum is home to more than rare Mies dwelling," ''Chicago Sun Times'', March 1, 2002, p. 26. Her process involved methodically bending and layering the fragile veneer in loose, interlaced weaves that created undulating, penetrable skins or shell-like armor around hollow, biomorphic cores: cocoon, spiral, bulb, limb, vessel and nest forms.Bates, Geoffrey. "From Limb to Limb," ''The Living Museum'', Vol. 60, No. 1, 1998, p. 9–12. ''Arts'' critic Kathryn Hixson described works such as the vertical, six-foot ''Voluta'' (1988) as amassing seemingly random, curvilinear layerings "to form strong unified objects, almost mathematical in their purity and stability," which hover on walls "like protective presences." Susan Snodgrass and Fred Camper wrote that works, such as the coiled, vortex-like ''Cyclus'', cocoon-like ''Plexus'' or undulating, pod-like ''Ova'' (all 1994), simultaneously allude to anthropomorphic figures, ancient fertility statues and scientific proofs, blurring boundaries between the natural and cultural, romantic and rational.Camper, Fred
"Frames of Reference,"
''Chicago Reader'', January 19, 1996, p. 22. Retrieved December 9, 2019.Sheply, Carol Ferring. "Basketry: A View from the Outer Edges," ''Fiberarts'', September/October 1995, p. 56–7.Camper, Fred
"Dream Weavers,"
''Chicago Reader'', June 19, 1998, p. 46. Retrieved December 9, 2019. In the late 1990s, critics identified a new intensity and frankness in Cooper's sculpture, which often features commanding, larger-than-human scaled tree-, column- or torso-like forms that express themes of vulnerability, healing, and ecological threat. Still influenced by natural building processes—the outward, ringed growth of trees, layering of cells in an embryo, bundling of fibers into muscle, or accretive forming of shells—this work incorporated new methods (dappled, fish-scale-like surfaces, visible drips of sap-like glue) and materials (junked automotive parts and cast steel) that conflate the organic and fabricated. Works such as ''Columen'' (1998), ''Schist'' and ''Brace'' (both 2000) resemble limbless, fallen, split or cut trees with dripping glue suggesting the arrested vitality of a living thing. In others, like ''Mast'' (2000), Cooper uses veneer like sheaths or folds, alluding to wind-blown sails, clothing and the body, while other works reference the movement of water (rapids, waves) around obstacles; ''Fragment'' (1999) suggests a cache of coiled wood scrolls in a tree stump. Several works explore biological reactions such as burls or calluses in forms balanced between abstraction and natural references (hearts, limbs, bulbs);Castro, Jan Garden. "St. Louis Review: Baskets and Beyond," ''Sculpture'', November 1999, p. 65–6. ''Burl'' (1997), ''Pomme'' (1998) and ''Corm'' (1999) incorporate a battered muffler layered with veneer, blackened steel sprouting vegetable roots, and bronze-like "tumors" that imply wounds, recuperation, and closure. Residencies in Iceland in 2000 and 2003 took Cooper's work in a new direction, as she explored the fluid dynamics of geological forces such as lava flows and earthquakes. ''Surge'' (2002) is a fibrous, arched form that suggests vast, horizontal volcanic and glacial landscapes and the parallel forms of recorded injuries and change on bark.Walker, Hollis. "Nature's subtle gifts," ''Journal North'' (Santa Fe), July 2002. For ''Fall'' (2004), she translated a drawing into three dimensions, creating a seven-foot wood veneer wall sculpture whose free-form undulations spill another six feet onto the floor. That work led to a series of multi-sectioned sculptures cast in iron from clay slabs, in which she varied organic, terrain-like surfaces with smooth cut edges to suggest landscape tensions between nature and human development. The largest, ''Trace'' (2006), is a ten-foot work whose nine sections resemble slices of earth strata forced together, domino-like, by great pressure. In later sculpture, such as in the 2019 show, "Increment" (Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art), Cooper explored layered transformation, the intersection between natural and manufactured, and form as a record of development, repurposing veneer scraps and earlier sculpture fragments, often in intimate, highly tactile, smaller works.Kochman, Adrienne. ''Increment'', Chicago: Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, 2019.

Drawings

Throughout her career, Cooper has created and exhibited drawings that function as parallel works rather than studies, and reveal her sculpture's dependence on line, gesture and fluidity.Barbara Cooper website
"Drawing."
Retrieved December 9, 2019. Susan Snodgrass described her mid-1990s "Gyration" charcoal series, based on foliage in rural France, as "morphic bodies writhing through ambiguous backdrops" with a "commanding, yet lyrical physicality." The activated surfaces of drawn, smudged and erased lines in her "Flow" and "Currents" series were inspired by rushing or rippling water and California oak tree rings, while the "Processes of Change" series (influenced by her early-2000s experience in Iceland) explores geologic forces in 5' x 10' charcoal works. In later drawings, Cooper has sought to remove evidence of her hand in collage works that incorporate scanned and Photoshopped material or collected pressed leaves.

Public art and collaborations

Cooper has created several large-scale commissioned public works melding her sculptural concerns with qualities specific to their spaces.Barbara Cooper website
"Public Art."
Retrieved December 9, 2019.Wescover
"Barbara Cooper."
Creators. Retrieved December 9, 2019. ''Current'' (2007, Chicago Public Library, Avalon Branch) is a 20-foot-long horizontal, suspended sculpture of layered, undulating wood forms that echo the layering of pages and collected books and suggest the ripple effect of learning on a community. ''Ecotone'' (2013, Florida Gulf Coast University Library) and ''Circuit'' (2015, Hinsdale Public Library) feature spiraling, wood-and-metal ribbon forms that reference, respectively, the overlapping of communities and habitats and the flows of technology, electronics, information and transportation. ''Pneuma'' (2019, Pro Medica Generations Tower,

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

) uses similar means to embody connections and tensions between physical and spiritual and outer and inner, as well as the flow of elements and beings around obstacles during healing, transformation and growth.ProMedic
"Art and Healing."
Retrieved December 9, 2019. For ''Transitions'' (2009, Chicago Transit Authority Paulina station), Cooper placed two components in dialogue: a suspended sculpture of swirling metal organic forms and a glass wall mosaic depicting intersecting, opposing sets of concentric circles; the forms reference burls, eddies in water and cell structure to represent the fluid energy of the city and its commuters, intersecting hubs and neighborhoods.City of Chicago. "Barbara Cooper, Transitions (2009)," ''Arts in Transit'', 2018.Chicago Transit Authority. "Transitions, Barbara Cooper,
''CTA Public Art''
Chicago, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2019. The 82-foot mosaic ''Interval'' 2009, (

T. F. Green Airport Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport is a public international airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, south of the state's capital and largest city of Providence. Opened in 1931, the airport was named for former Rhode Islan ...

, Providence) features undulating blue forms suggesting the flow of a waterfall as a metaphor for the fluidity of movement and tensions associated with air travel and weather; Cooper based the hand-painted forms on collaged found photos of nature and the work's structure on the naturally occurring mathematical Fibonacci series.Public Art Archive
''Interval''
Art. Retrieved December 9, 2019. In addition to her artwork, Cooper has created set designs for an Athenaeum Theatre (Chicago) production and a

Hedwig Dances Hedwig Dances is an American contemporary dance company based in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_foo ...

production, ''Dance of Forgotten Steps'' (2010).Barbara Cooper website
"Collaborations."
Retrieved December 9, 2019. In 2013, she collaborated with choreographer Jan Bartoszek to create ASCENDance, a fifty-minute multimedia dance work that features dancers manipulating large, origami-based sculptural elements, an entirely new form for Cooper.Hedwig Dances
"Barbara Cooper,"
Artists. Retrieved December 9, 2019.

Collections and recognition

Cooper's work is in many public and private art collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Long Beach Museum of Art,

Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest is a 16,137 acre (57 km2) arboretum, forest, and nature preserve located in Clermont, Kentucky (25 miles south of Louisville, Kentucky, United States). Bernheim was founded in 1929 by Isaac Wolfe Bernh ...

, Columbus Museum of Art, Contemporary Museum Honolulu,

Cranbrook Art Museum The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of Cra ...

, Illinois State Museum,

Racine Art Museum The Racine Art Museum (RAM) and RAM's Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts are located in Racine, Wisconsin, U.S. The museum holds the largest and most significant contemporary craft collection in North America, with more than 9,500 objects fro ...

, and Yellowstone Art Museum, among others.Zeller, Jenny
"Former Artist in Residence Barbara Cooper shows her work in Chicago,"
Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, December 15, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2019.Cranbrook Art Museum
"Barbara Cooper, Spiritus, 1990,"
Artwork. Retrieved December 9, 2019.Ullrich, Polly. "Midwestern Fiber Collections," ''Fiberarts'', January/February 2007, p. 24–5. Cooper has been recognized with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (1994), Illinois Arts Council (three, 1988–2009) and City of Chicago (1991), and awarded artist residencies from the Wilderness Workshop,

Bloedel Reserve The Bloedel Reserve is a forest garden on Bainbridge Island, Washington, United States. It was created by Virginia and Prentice Bloedel, the vice-chairman of the lumber company MacMillan Bloedel Limited, under the influence of the conservatio ...

Museum of Copenhagen The Museum of Copenhagen (Danish: Københavns Bymuseum) is the official museum of Copenhagen, Denmark, documenting the city's history from the 12th century to the present. History The Museum of Copenhagen was founded in 1901. Starting in 1925, t ...

, Kohler Arts Center, Hafnarfjördur Centre,

Camargo Foundation Camargo may refer to: Places Bolivia: * Camargo, Chuquisaca Brazil: * Camargo, Rio Grande do Sul Mexico: * Camargo, Chihuahua * Camargo, Tamaulipas Spain: * Camargo, Cantabria United States of America: * Camargo, Illinois * Camargo, Kentucky ...

, MacDowell Colony, Ragdale, Montalvo Arts Center, and Yaddo, among others.

References

External links

Barbara Cooper official website"Pneuma" art installation
at Pro Medica Generations Tower, Toledo
Barbara Cooper
Public Art Archive
Barbara Cooper public art page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Barbara 21st-century American sculptors 20th-century American sculptors American women sculptors Artists from Chicago Artists from Philadelphia Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni Cleveland Institute of Art alumni American art educators 1949 births Living people 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists