Large Opuntia Works
Installation of OPUNTIA DOUBLE in the 2013 exhibition "Single Species Translations" at Perlman Teaching Museum, Carleton College, Northfield, MN (on back wall)
Installation of OPUNTIA DOUBLE in the 2013 exhibition "Single Species Translations" at Perlman Teaching Museum, Carleton College, Northfield, MN | 18 x 18.5 x 5.5 feet
Installation of OPUNTIA DOUBLE in the 2013 exhibition "Single Species Translations" at Perlman Teaching Museum, Carleton College, Northfield, MN | 18 x 18.5 x 5.5 feet
Installation of OPUNTIA DOUBLE in the 2013 exhibition "Single Species Translations" at Perlman Teaching Museum, Carleton College, Northfield, MN | 18 x 18.5 x 5.5 feet
View of OPUNTIA DOUBLE from behind its floating drawing. OPUNTIA MOTHER on opposite wall. CASTLE on pedestal
OPUNTIA DOUBLE, 2003-2013
Chinese watercolor on paper: 7 x 18 feet | silk, stainless steel and wool on nylon: 9 x 18.5 feet
OPUNTIA DOUBLE, 2003-2013 (detail)
Chinese watercolor on paper: 7 x 18 feet | silk, stainless steel and wool on nylon: 9 x 18.5 feet
OPUNTIA DOUBLE, 2003-2013 (detail)
Chinese watercolor on paper: 7 x 18 feet | silk, stainless steel and wool on nylon: 9 x 18.5 feet
OPUNTIA DOUBLE, 2003-2013 (detail)
Chinese watercolor on paper: 7 x 18 feet | silk, stainless steel and wool on nylon: 9 x 18.5 feet
TRIBUTARY, 2014
Dried Opuntia and raw silk | size variable
Tributary is crocheted directly into the dried Opuntia using raw silk yarn of approximately the same color, extending the plant form. This plant and yarn combination is then starched and pinned to the wall with a T-pin, suspending the work an inch and a half from the wall. The shadow underneath the accumulated plant/crochet pieces creates a visual confusion, going in and out of focus depending on the viewers distance from it. Tributary is a different shape each time it is installed, one paddle joining to another and then another in a rambling walk across the wall. It continues to enlarge as more pieces are added, expanding or contracting based on the scale of the room it occupies.
TRIBUTARY, 2014
Dried Opuntia and raw silk | size variable
TRIBUTARY, 2014 (detail)
Dried Opuntia and raw silk | size variable
TRIBUTARY, 2014 (detail)
Dried Opuntia and raw silk | size variable
OPUNTIA MOTHER, 2001-2013
Graphite on trace paper | 8'9" x 12'2" (dimensions may vary)
Opuntia Mother is the first Opuntia work, made of the graphite rubbings that were transferred as the template for Opuntia Double. Tracing paper pieces were placed over dried cactus fragments and rubbed with graphite. The paper was configured and taped together as a continually enlarging drawing. The drawing was reconfigured in 2013, and depending on site and condition is reconfigurable.
OPUNTIA MOTHER, 2001-2013 (detail)
Graphite on trace paper | 8'9" x 12'2" (dimensions may vary)
OPUNTIA MOTHER, 2001-2013 (detail)
Graphite on trace paper | 8'9" x 12'2" (dimensions may vary)
Small Opuntia Works
CIRCLE WALL SCULPTURES
While working on the crocheted portion of the large scale Opuntia Double project, Cooper also began making pieces small enough to fit in her lap. These offer a way to try out a quicker project while still working with the same processes and materials. Their scale also suggests a different intimacy, a kind of nestling.
These wall pieces are made from collected plant debris – dried cactus/Opuntia, dried roots, seedpods, etc, that have been crocheted through and around with silk, wool, fine strands of stainless steel, and mohair, creating new forms which are extensions of the organic objects.
TIDAL, 2014 | 22 x 14 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches
RELIC, 2016
Acrylic, Japanese watercolor, plant, silk, wool and cotton | 6 x 8.75 x 1.75 inches
PEEL, 2014
Wool, silk, stainless steel, mohair, Japanese watercolor and paper | 25.5 X 7 inches
NESTED, 2015
Japanese watercolor, crocheted silk and mohair on paper | 9 x 12 inches
NEST, 2014 | 9 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches
MULBERRY COLLABORATION, 2015
Japanese watercolor over mulberry droppings on paper (left under the mulberry tree for a week in July) | 30 x 22 inches
GUADELUPE, 2014
Opuntia, silk, wool and mohair | 19 x 8.5 x 1.5 inches
GUADELUPE 2, 2014
Japanese watercolor on paper | 5.5 x 8.5 inches
Rarely conceived as preliminary plans or sketches, Cooper's watercolor and ink works on paper happen either alongside or after a more time-consuming sculptural or textural work. They are a way of stepping back to consider the larger works and create a dialogue with them – while making a new work at the same time.
FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER, 2015
Nickel silver-plated Oputia cactus, stainless steel, silk, wool, mohair, dried plant, ink | 16 x 8 x 7½ inches
ENCIRCLE, 2014
16 x 10 x 1 1/2 inches
CONVERGE, 2012
Silk, stainless steel,wool,mohair, graphite on trace paper and thread on nylon tulle | 34 1/2 x 36 x 1 1/2 inches
CIRCUMSCRIBE, 2014
Japanese watercolor on paper | 9 x 12 inches
Rarely conceived as preliminary plans or sketches, Cooper's watercolor and ink works on paper happen either alongside or after a more time-consuming sculptural or textural work. They are a way of stepping back to consider the larger works and create a dialogue with them – while making a new work at the same time.
CASTLE, 2004
Opuntia, thread, hot glue, and nickel plating | 29 1/2 x 18 x 18 inches
BREATH, 2014
19 1/4 x 16 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches
BOWER, 2014
Nickel-plated cactus fragment | 12 x 5 x 4 1/2 inches
BLUE ECLIPSE, 2014
ARABESQUE, 2004
Opuntia, thread, hot glue | 15 x 24 x 24 inches
Cooper collaborates with the peripheral fragments of plants that accumulate in her garden. Paddle cactus, Opuntia ficus indica, has grown in her hillside garden for generations as food and as a spiny hedge. This cactus reduces to a coral-like skeleton once it’s succulent, edible flesh falls away. It transforms from three dimensions to two in the process, becoming, as it peels off in elongated oval sheets, a kind of “found drawing.” These desiccated forms are worked and re-worked, connecting pieces together, giving them new shape and meaning.
