Linda Van Cooper began making art as a child in her grandmother's studio, on a farm on the Blackland Prairie of North Central Texas. Much of her artistic sensibility arose from years in the saddle, riding backroads on her cowpony and absorbing the vast Texas landscape, the huge sky, and the wild, dramatic weather. Exploring on horseback, she learned to feel the natural world around her, rather than just see it, and to give her imagination free rein to interpret what she saw. She reads subtleties of color and form, taking in unique details and the spirit of the place.
This way of interacting with nature -- observing, feeling, interacting and interpreting -- is echoed in her painting process and in her choice of subject matter. Van Cooper's work explores the connection and tensions between the individual and the natural world. It describes the visual and emotional richness of specific moments in time. She is particularly interested in the luminosity of shadows, patterns of light and movement, and the spaces between things. Shorelines and the give and take between water and land are recurring motifs..
Van Cooper considers life and art both journeys, in which each enriches the other. A graduate of Wesleyan University, she has pursued fine arts photography, worked in fashion and as a teacher of photography in Manhattan and Boston. Vermont has been her home for many years. She frequently travels and is drawn to the power and subtlety of beaches and the ocean, particularly the beaches of the East End of Long Island and Cape Cod; Lake Champlain is figuring recently as well.
Texas Memory 30" x 30" oil on canvas