Cooperworks
Exhibits

American artist Ken Cooper spent a decade working with museums, Britain’s National Trust, and private historic trusts to create the paintings of historic English Country Houses for which he is best known. Since 2001 he has been working stateside with historic sites in his native Midwest.

Ken's most recent and upcoming Shows are listed here.

Britain’s National Trust presented exhibitions of two series of his paintings, Revisiting Hardwick Hall and The Romance of Canons Ashby, both in 2001, and The Burton Constable Foundation presented The Burton Constable Paintings in 2000.

Some of Ken's shows in the United States include Starr Quality in 2008 at Starr Commonwealth in Ohio;
The Nature of Historic Sites in 2007 and The Centennial Paintings in 2003 at The House and City of David Historic Site in Michigan;
At the Corner of Civilization and Imagination, the Homes and Haunts of Gene Stratton Porter, in 2006 at Arts Place in conjunction with The Limberlost State Historic Site in Indiana;
and New Perspectives on the Homestead in 2001 at the Workman & Temple Family Homestead Museum in California;
and the Piatt Castle Paintings in 1999 at Mac-A-Cheek Castle in Ohio.

Ken Cooper's complete resume is listed here.

Ken’s artwork was introduced in England at the Dudley Museum and Art Gallery in 1989. A commission from the Gallery resulted in The Witley Court Paintings, 1991, which is the only exhibition ever given an encore showing, 1992, at Dudley. His association with Dudley led to four more one-man shows there including one of The Calke Abbey Paintings in 1996. This series of paintings was also exhibited at Calke Abbey by Britain’s National Trust that same year and opened with dinner held in Ken’s honor.

Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ken received his Master of Arts degree from Central Michigan University and his Bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University. His biography appears in both the 57th and 58th editions of Who’s Who in America.

In addition to his own art career, during his 27 years as the public high school art teacher in Manistee, Michigan, Ken guided numerous students toward vocations in commercial art. His master teaching was featured in The NEA Reports, the monthly publication of the National Education Association of America, and utilized at Lea Green School in England where he served as Artist-in-Residence during the summer of 1993 and the Starr Commonwealth for boys and Montcolm School for girls in Ohio in the spring of 2006.

Since 1998 Ken has conducted his Art and Architecture Workshops for various historic sites, including historic Camp lookout in MI, at the National Trust’s Calke Abbey in England, Mac-a-Cheek Castle in Ohio, and The Workman and Temple Homestead Museum in California. He continues to conduct his workshops as well as to give illustrated talks and occasionally teach painting and drawing classes.

For the past five years Ken has been working with historic sites in the U.S. and also creating paintings from subject matter found in and around the rural community of Norwalk, Michigan, where he lives with his wife Ruth and their Newfoundland dog. Their home is a two-story sculptured cement store building built in 1912. The Coopers spent several years renovating the building into an art studio on the ground floor and an apartment inspired by the British Arts and Crafts movement on the second floor. Their home was featured in Victorian Homes magazine in 1989.

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