Jim Cooper (born 1956) is a New Zealand ceramic artist.

Life

Cooper was born in Westport on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

in 1956, and attended

Buller High School Buller High School is a secondary school in the town of Westport, New Zealand, Westport, New Zealand. The school has a roll of over 360 students, all Year 9 to Year 13. As well as students from Westport, the school has a large number of students ...

. He studied ceramics at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art in 1984 and 1989, but did not "get a ticket"; he returned and completed a Masters of Fine Arts there in 1999. Cooper studied under Neil Grant while at Otago Polytechnic and acknowledges him as a mentor.

Artistic career

After graduating, he taught for some time at Otago Polytechnic. Cooper has worked in ceramics since the early 1980s; his earliest works in 1982 were vessels. He then began creating heads and torsos of free-standing figures and relief sculptures. His works tend to consist of installations of numerous figures, sometimes hundredsa One of his major works is ''Sgt P'', a ceramic installation loosely inspired by the album art of ''

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composi ...

'' by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

. The installation, made up of more than 100 ceramic figures, cardboard cut-outs and drawings, was shown at the Dowse Art Museum in 2007 and then toured to Tauranga,

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. In 2010, Cooper was one of three ceramic artists to take up residency at the Yingge Ceramics Museum to produce work for the 2010 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale. His installation at the Biennale consisted of more than 1,000 pieces. In 2013, he held a residency in Hualien, Eastern Taiwan, as ground breaker with the Taiwan Land Development Corporation.

Recognition

Cooper won the McSkimming Award in 1984. In 1996 he was a finalist in the New Ceramics and Glass Awards. He won first place in the Norsewear Art Awards in 2006 for his work ''Snowy from Cavy''. He was named joint winner of the

Portage Ceramic Awards The annual Portage Ceramic Awards is New Zealand's premier ceramics event. Established in 2001, the awards are funded by The Trusts Charitable Foundation and administered by Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery (formerly Lopdell House Gallery). A ...

in 2009 and was awarded the Premier Award in 2012 for his 30-piece installation ''Millbrook Holiday (the League for Spiritual Discovery)''. He won merit awards in 2016 and 2018.

Solo Shows

* ''Sgt P.'' 2007'':'' Dunedin Public Art Gallery''.'' * ''Peppermints and Incense''. October 2008–February 2009: Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Jim New Zealand potters 20th-century New Zealand male artists Living people Otago Polytechnic alumni 1956 births People from Westport, New Zealand People educated at Buller High School 21st-century New Zealand male artists Artists from the West Coast, New Zealand