“Familiarity” New Photographs by Chip Cooper at Kentuck Art Center

“Familiarity” New Photographs by Chip Cooper at Kentuck Art Center

Kentuck Art Center will host an exhibit of new photographs by Tuscaloosa treasure Chip Cooper. The opening reception and artist talk will be on Art Night, March 3rd, from 5-8pm at the Kentuck Art Center in Historic Downtown Northport. Titled “Familiarity”, the display of photographs will be open to the public March 3-March 31.

Since March of 2014, Cooper has been Visiting Artist in Residence of Fototeca de Cuba. He was invited to the Vatican and the Holy See by the Cuban Embassy to exhibit his Campesinos collection for the 80th anniversary of the diplomatic relationships between the two countries. Cooper says of his most recent work, “Sense of place has been a significant thread in all my work, helping understand the world we live in. In the many places I have photographed, none have moved me more than the Black Belt of Alabama and the island of Cuba. My focus for the last few years has been to explore the moment in both places and has resulted in countless trips and thousands of photographs. I’m touched soul-deep by my subject matter, challenged by the duality of a moment’s ever-changing complex and yet simple light. Showcasing these two collections together for the first time, I hope to invoke the feeling of closeness, intimacy, and belonging that has defined these two places as home.”

After 33 years as the Director of Photography for the University of Alabama, Chip Cooper is Artist in Residence in the Honors College. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alabama in 1972 and followed his college years with work in photography.

While working for the University of Alabama, he has published the following books: Hunting the Southern Tradition (Taylor Publishing: Dallas, TX); Alabama Memories (WH Smith: New York, NY); Silent in the Land (CKM Press: Tuscaloosa, AL); Common Threads (CKM Press: Tuscaloosa, AL); Crimson – The University of Alabama (Booksmith Group: Nashville, TN); Charlie Lucas – The Tin Man (University of Alabama Press: Tuscaloosa, AL); and Habana Veija – Old Havana (University of Alabama Press: Tuscaloosa, AL) with Cuban photographer Nestor Marti. He recently finished the book Campesinos in the Soul of Cuba with Julio Larramendi, to be published by Alabama Press in the fall of 2016.

Having shown his work nationally and internationally, Cooper’s photography is in many museums, private collections, and corporate collections. In 2015, his exhibitions spanned Sarasota, Birmingham, Havana, Topes de Collantes and Trinidad, Cuba, and the Vatican in Rome.

Cooper won an Award of Excellence from Communication Arts Magazine for his book Silent in the Land. He is a past recipient of an Artist Fellowhip from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, said of Cooper, “You are a very great American photographer plus Georgia O’Keeffe rolled into one. O’Keeffe because you have her eye. You paint with film.”

The Kentuck Art Center is located at 503 Main Avenue in Historic Downtown Northport. For more information about the Kentuck Art Center or the 45th Annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts, patrons should LIKE the Facebook page “Kentuck Art Center” and follow kentuckmuseum on Twitter and kentuck_art_center on Instagram. Call 205-758-1257 or visit www.kentuck.org for further information.