Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Cooper.
Mark, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My creative life includes my individual artistic practice, collaborative projects, public and private commissions, teaching and lecturing. I began exhibiting my artwork in the 1980s in museums and galleries.
I have been involved in a large number of commissions and grants including most recently a Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Sculpture/Installation/New Genre in 2017, a Flow Grant and Commission for the City of Cambridge, MA 2017/2018, a mural grant/commission for ARCK across from Fenway Park in Boston 2016, a permanent collaboration/commission for the American Psychological Association building in Washington D.C. 2014 and commissions for Boston Children’s Hospital 2014, Comme des Garcon – Dover Market 2014, Fidelity Investments 2014, Wellington Management 2014, and a project funded by the University of the Middle East Project which resulted in a large-scale permanent collaborative sculpture sited at Roger Williams University 2008. I have received numerous grants including ones from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the New England Foundation for the Arts, an Open Society Institute Fellowship, a Cafritz Foundation Grant, the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, and a Mott Fund Grant. Additional examples of commissions include ones for the Cambridge Health Alliance, Praecis Pharmaceutical, Somerville Hospital, a large outdoor reconciliation project for the Strabane District of North Ireland, the Boston Frog Pond, and over 50 Billboards and murals.
I wrote Making Art Together. How Collaborative Art-Making Can Transform Kids, Classrooms, and Communities with Lisa Sjostrom, published by Beacon Press in 2006. I spoke about art and art education as the United Nations Millennium Conference was a keynote speaker to a conference including First Ladies and Ministers of Education from 65 countries in Washington D.C. and addressed the Connecticut Legislative Body in session on art and art education.
I received an MFA from the SMFA/Tufts University program in 1980.
I have an upcoming Museum exhibition in March 2019 at the Contemporary Museum in Da Nang, Vietnam responding to the anniversary of twenty-five years of open relationships between Vietnam and the U.S., as well as museum projects in Shanghai China in June of 2019, Jingdezhen China in September of 2019, and in Hangzhou China to be determined.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I grew up in Southern Indiana where there was very little art and the idea of being an artist was inconceivable. My parents tried everything to get me to not leave art school to pursue a life as an artist. Eventually, they came around and recognized it was important to have work that was also my passion.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am known for both my immersive multi-media installations, my ceramics, and my many collaborative projects including a book I wrote with Beacon Press, Making Art Together. My goal is to have contributed to the larger conversation about a number of ideas and issues by either creating art on my own that moves individuals towards wanting invention and excellence in their own endeavors or in the case of the collaborative projects, gives participants a voice, a sense of self-respect, an understanding and experience of success and possibility.
What were you like growing up?
Art was not a possibility growing up and there was a general anti-intellectual atmosphere. I threw myself into tennis and other sports. Once in college, the world of possibilities open up and has continued to do so.
Contact Info:
- Address: Mailing: 52 St. James Ave., Somerville, MA 02144
- Website: markfcooperart.com
- Phone: 617-832-5976
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