Artist Emory Cooper has always admired the Art Association’s annual art fair from a distance. This year, however, Cooper decided it was “the year for me to get going on it.” She applied to be the fair’s emerging artist and was selected. If you’ve been following her work, you might say it’s about time she found her way into the spotlight.
Cooper creates vibrant mosaics from discarded magazines and print materials. The way she positions those materials lends her landscapes, nature and wildlife works a punchy three-dimensional feel. Her pieces leap from the canvas. In three words, Cooper describes her work as “an organized chaos.”
Meanwhile, plein air artist John Springer, whose work was selected for the art fair’s poster contest, calls his style: “spontaneous, original, expressive.”
The Art Association selected his painting of Schwabacher’s Landing to grace its materials for the July fair.
Cooper and Springer are among the 140 artists showcasing their work July 12 to 14 for the art fair at Miller Park.
Just before they set their tents up and positioned their canvasses for the public, they discussed their roles and responsibilities as artists.
Above: A collage of the Tetons by Emory Cooper.