Wayne Cooper was born in 1942 near Depew, Oklahoma [1] and is of Yuchi descent. [2] He is an internationally known artist, who specializes in Western Art. His upbringing in Oklahoma and Indian roots, are the subject of many of his artistic creations via oil and canvas. His professional career began in the early 1960s, and continues currently with his artwork.
His early training was with Woody Crumbo, a celebrated Potawatomi artist and educator who taught at Bacone College. Cooper also studied at the Famous Artists School correspondence courses, the Gary Artist League of Gary, Indiana; Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana; and the American Atelier in New York City, New York. [1]
Cooper's media include oils, watercolors, charcoals, pencil, and bronze sculpture, as well as lithographs. The Oklahoma State Capital has commissioned over fourteen pieces of art from Cooper. [2]
His early artwork began about 1963, and many of his early barn paintings were reminiscent of masterpieces by Andrew Wyeth and Eric Sloane.
Wayne Cooper has presented special shows at the Will Rogers Memorial, University of Kentucky, Indiana Capitol Building, University of New Mexico, Governor's Mansion in Indianapolis, and Oklahoma State Capitol.
Cooper was commissioned by Perkins, Oklahoma to create two 12 foot bronze sculptures which extend to 18 foot on their pedestals. One is of legendary cowboy Frank Eaton, also known as “Pistol Pete”, the mascot of Oklahoma State University. The other bronze is of Iowa chief “No Heart”.
Lee Oscar Lawrie was one of the United States' foremost architectural sculptors and a key figure in the American art scene preceding World War II. Over his long career of more than 300 commissions Lawrie's style evolved through Modern Gothic, to Beaux-Arts, Classicism, and, finally, into Moderne or Art Deco.
Charles Marion Russell, also known as C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and "Kid" Russell, was an American artist of the American Old West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, and landscapes set in the western United States and in Alberta, Canada, in addition to bronze sculptures. He is known as "the cowboy artist" and was also a storyteller and author. He became an advocate for Native Americans in the west, supporting the bid by landless Chippewa to have a reservation established for them in Montana. In 1916, Congress passed legislation to create the Rocky Boy Reservation.
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Richard Howard Hunt is one of the most important African American sculptors of the 20th-century. Hunt holds status as one of the foremost African-American abstract sculptors and artists of public sculpture. Hunt, the descendant of slaves, was the first African American sculptor to have a major retrospective at Museum of Modern Art in 1971. Hunt has created over 150 public sculpture commissions in prominent locations in 22 states across the United States, more than any other sculptor. With a career that spans seven decades, Hunt has held over 100 solo exhibitions and is represented in more than 100 public museums. Hunt has served on the Smithsonian Institution's National Board of Directors. Hunt's abstract, modern and contemporary sculpture work is notable for its presence in exhibitions and public displays as early as the 1950s, despite social pressures for the obstruction of African-American art at the time.
Allan Capron Houser or Haozous was a Chiricahua Apache sculptor, painter and book illustrator born in Oklahoma. He was one of the most renowned Native American painters and Modernist sculptors of the 20th century.
Appeal to the Great Spirit is a 1908 equestrian statue by Cyrus Dallin, located in front of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It portrays a Native American on horseback facing skyward, his arms spread wide in a spiritual request to the Great Spirit. It was the last of four prominent sculptures of Indigenous people, which also includes A Signal of Peace (1890), The Medicine Man (1899), and Protest of the Sioux (1904).
Enoch Kelly Haney is an American politician and internationally recognized Seminole/Muscogee artist from Oklahoma, He served as principal chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma from 2005 until 2009 and previously served as a member of both houses of the Oklahoma Legislature. He was also a candidate for the office of Governor of Oklahoma in the 2002 election.
The Herron Arch 1, a public sculpture by American artist James Wille Faust, is located on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, which is near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The sculpture is located at the corner of New York and Blackford Streets, the north-east corner of the Herron School of Art and Design. Faust, an alumnus of Herron, created the 20-foot-tall (6.1 m), vividly colored aluminum sculpture for Herron's eighteen-month-long Public Sculpture Invitational.
Robert Dale Owen Memorial is a public artwork located at the south entrance of the Indiana Statehouse along Washington Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. The memorial was donated to the state of Indiana and dedicated in 1911 in honor of the Indiana politician, Robert Dale Owen (1807–1877). The bronze portrait bust by Indiana sculptor, Frances M. Goodwin, has been missing from this memorial since 1970. The memorial's remaining pedestal is made from three stone blocks and includes a commemorative plaque.
Young Abe Lincoln, is a 1962 public artwork by American artist David K. Rubins, located outside of the government center near the Indiana State House, in Indianapolis, Indiana, US. This bronze sculpture is a depiction of a young Abraham Lincoln, an Abraham Lincoln that spent the majority of his formative years in Indiana.
Benjamin Harrison is a bust by American artist Richard Peglow, located in the north atrium on the second floor of the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The bust is cast in bronze and depicts President Benjamin Harrison. The bust is placed in front of a grey and black marble shield with six stars tracing around the edge of the shape. The bust and shield are approximately 28 inches (710 mm) wide by 25 inches (640 mm) high and has a depth of 14.5 inches (370 mm). The artwork was cast and placed in the statehouse in 2008 in accordance with Indiana code Section 2. IC 4-20.5-6-12.
The Abraham Lincoln commemorative plaque is a work of public art designed by Marie Stewart in 1906, created by Rudolph Schwarz, and dedicated on 12 February 1907.
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