(Kristine Cooper | Photo courtesy of Cooper Art & Abode)
Kristine Cooper, owner of Cooper Art and Abode, is a local abstract painter who uses art to communicate a multitude of thoughts and feelings. Kristine has been an artist for most of her life, recalling her early years being spent playing with chalk on the sidewalk.
“I discovered art as a child, and immediately felt a pull to create with my hands,” Kristine said. “Through art, I feel like I can be my best self, and create something out of the chaos of my life. I was born with a birth defect, my dad had a traumatic injury, and I was raised under the poverty line. I lacked resources or any idea that an art world existed away from our small home in Spokane, but I did know I was born to create and use my imagination.”
While Kristine didn’t grow up in an environment that helped foster her love for art and creativity, she didn’t let that stop her from pursuing her passion. She attended Seattle Pacific University to pursue a career as a teacher before switching her major to fine arts, deciding it was time to fully commit to her art. “I love kids and working with them, but I felt like I needed to create something more dynamic, something with my hands,” Kristine said.
Despite having a degree in fine arts and taking classes on the subject, Kristine said she feels like art majors are rarely set on a clear path towards success; lessons on how to become a successful, professional and financially stable artist didn’t seem to be a big priority.
Kristine graduated in 2016 and discovered Bend through a friend. She decided to take a visit and explore the area for herself one day, and she immediately fell in love. She moved soon after, and picked up a job on the side to earn some income while also pursuing her art after her regular work hours.
For about four years, Kristine would work her day job and pursue her dream of being an artist in her limited free time. Eventually in 2020, Kristine decided to take the leap, quit her day job and pursue art full time, “ As scary as it was to do that in 2020 with the pandemic going on, I felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders and I could finally be who I really wanted to be,” she said.
Kristine found success jumping into full-time work. She said that this transition allowed her to spend more time on her work, exploring her sparks of creativity. Before she quit her day job, she would sometimes get a creative idea she’d want to explore, but then would have to wait several hours before she was actually able to explore the idea, sometimes losing that spark. As a full-time artist, Kristine now has the ability to explore her creativity as it comes, wasting no time in expressing her emotions through brushstrokes and bright colors.
“I could spend more time in the pieces and actually fulfill my creative ideas,” she said. “I can go and create whenever. There is more space for me to be a professional artist.”
According to Kristine, fully exploring her creativity means exploring both the good and the bad. As an artist, Kristine aims to paint with emotion in mind, as opposed to creating something that resembles a photograph.
An example of this is her painting entitled, “Roots” which is based on a hiking trip she took with her fiancé on the Southern Oregon coast. She recalls taking in the spectacular oceanside vista, but also recalls the salt in the air, the cool breeze on her skin and hearing the rhythmic ocean’s tide come in and out. “Roots” encapsulates that entire experience.
“I’ll add dots, small movements, lines, spray paint and metallic elements of silver and gold to represent different emotions in each painting,” Kristine said.
Aside from representing emotion, Kristine enjoys using metallic elements to make her paintings more dynamic; that is, they might look a bit different depending on where they are hung, what kind of light is hitting them and even what time of day they are being observed.
Kristine’s work typically shies away from muted tones and avoids overusing blacks, whites and grays. Instead, her work is typically vibrant and relies on color theory to evoke certain emotions from the viewers.
“Many artists lean so much on black, white, gray and muted colors, and I don’t do that as much,” Kristine said. “My goal is to have paintings change moods, brighten the space, and make people feel good. That’s been one of my favorite parts of bringing that art to life.”
Kristine does admit that all of these unique elements, and therefore the uniqueness of her art, did raise the concern that they might not become that popular, or commercially successful. However, Kristine discovered that when the right people see her work, they connect with it on a deep level.
“Comparison made it scary to start like this, because my work definitely stuck out. I’ve experimented with making some work more neutral or more appealing to that other crowd, but it misses the soul for me, so I stopped going in that direction. I love color theory and I love the way it makes me feel. People may be apprehensive in the beginning, but they change over time,” Kristine said. “I’m comfortable with my work not being for everyone, but for the people who it is, it changes their life.”
At this point, Kristine feels like Bend and Central Oregon have embraced her for these differences. This can be seen from her commercial success, having a portfolio full of clients like Big Raven Yoga, Free Range Equipment, REI, Pacific Hound, and a number of corporate murals.
In the future, Kristine would enjoy working on more collaborations with companies and other local artists. Aside from her work on a canvas, she wants to break into 3D work, creating new art out of wood, textiles and other 3D elements.
You can find Kristine’s work at most of the fests around town (SummerFest, FallFest) as well as many local popups at cafes, bars and farmers markets. Kristine said that these have been great opportunities to sell her work, and connect with community members and other artists.