Planter’s Picnic
Tara Cooper
Instagram:
@tara_and_terry
Table Location:
Coming to a patio near you Spring 2021!
Artist Concept Statement:
Taking cues from French artist, Henri Matisse, Tara proposed a patterned garden based on plants that have healing properties, all of which can be found locally. Ultimately, she would like to convey a sense of taking care within this graphic garden—of ourselves, each other and the natural environment.
Reason for Participating in Art Fresco Public Art Project:
Tara participated in the Art Fresco project because she thought it would be fun to see how her designs translated into a functional object.
Artist Background:
Tara’s art practice embraces an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach, combining media from print, ceramics and documentary film making, to installation and book arts. Her subject matter draws from meteorology and creative non-fiction. This includes a series of production-based projects housed under the moniker Weather Girl. One phase of Weather Girl addressed the condition and impact of severe weather, which included two storm-chasing expeditions, while another looked at the Beaufort Wind Scale alongside the poetics of the ocean. Recent accomplishments include residencies at Haystack, Vermont Studio Center, Ox-Bow, Anderson Ranch, The Wassaic Project and Landfall Trust, as well as arts council grants from Ontario and Canada, and a public art commission for Kitchener Waterloo’s ION light rail transit system. She is also the co-editor of Printopolis, a publication examining contemporary print culture. Her exhibition record includes national and international venues such as the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (Kitchener, Ontario), SNAP Gallery (Edmonton, Ontario), Alberta Printmakers (Calgary, Ontario), Arprim Gallery (Montreal, Canada) the Wassaic Project (Wassaic, New York), and Haystack’s Center for Coummunity (Deer Isle Village, Maine). She received her Master of Fine Arts from Cornell University, and her Bachelor of Fine Arts along with a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Waterloo.