Cooper is a young talented artist who received the challenge to grow his artistic ability through a compilation art piece for the BHS installment of BCEF’s Art in Main.  His primary art focus is on single person portraits using an array of colors. While he wanted to showcase his traditional work by adding faces, he wanted to make the faces a bolder color because it blends the identities together on the canvas.  The center of the piece was Cooper’s chance to incorporate a landscape and movement into his art.  He indicated that this was only his fourth or fifth attempt at doing a landscape and he realizes the opportunities it affords him in his future work.  Movement of his figures is not a strength for him either, but he wanted the center to be the relatable piece to everyone who admires the work.

“The child playing represents youth and the older woman sitting represents wisdom,” he shared.  “The energy of youth may not be in the older woman, but knowledge and inspiration can be found in her stillness. The center was the area that will bring everyone into the art to say, ‘That could be me’ and then interpret the remainder of the art according to their personal life.”

Cooper said the other challenge he gave himself was to demonstrate all types of art: portraits, florals and landscapes.  He credits the BHS art teachers, Kyle Hunteman and Andrea Grimsley, for their guidance to make a cohesive piece that tells a story of inspiration through the mind of our youth.

Cooper, a 2022 BHS graduate, fills his time with art as much as he can, but is undecided regarding his adventures in the next year.