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Art Clay Senior Instructor
Peggy Koop
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Location:
Excelsior, MN
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Contact Information:
Email: peggykoop@visi.com
Web: www.mmkoopcollections.com |
Art Clay Classes Offered:
Introductory
Level One Certification
Senior Level Certificaiton
Specialty Courses |
Areas of Specialty:
Fused Glass
Lampworking
Silver-smithing
Fiber Techniques |
What do you love about Art Clay?
I love to roll it, cut it, and form it into molds that I can then texturize, carve, sculpt, and embed––in minutes. I can continue to work it when it dries. What’s not to love about that? |
What are your favorite Art Clay projects/creations?
My favorite Art Clay projects are sculptural, hollow forms that are representational of an idea, a movement, or a concept. I enjoy capturing growth elements in nature, such as pod bursting, a bud sprouting. It’s the transition from a confined form into an open form that interests me – the passing from one state to another to grow. |
What other media do you work and/or teach in?
I work in fiber, mostly silks and wools, but some cottons and polyesters. I enjoy dyeing these materials and then creating textural elements with them by fusing various fabrics together, either with hand–felting techniques or chemical processes. I create scarves, shawls, and other wearable art that I sell at various art shows around the country. I also enjoy knitting, crocheting, and plaiting wire and metal into wearable forms. I’m currently creating wearable pieces that incorporate knit wire, fused glass, and metal work into the fabrics. |
Biography:
For most of her life, Peggy Koop has had an interest in art. Her Mother, an art teacher and artist, exposed her six children to all things artistic during childhood. In college, Peggy studied painting sculpture, and ceramics extensively; however, she graduated with a major in English and a minor in art. A nontraditional student, she earned her degree by attending night school and working full time during the day at a local newspaper. She spent almost 15 years at the newspaper, eventually moving on to magazine publishing. For the past 17 years, she has been an editor of a technical publication. Her interest in the visual arts has never waned. She started taking beading classes about eight years ago, then became fascinated with metal fabrication. Her first exposure to Art Clay was at a bead show about six years ago. She was hooked on it from the start and quickly became Level One Certified, moving on to Senior Instructor. Since then, she has added glass fusing to her repertoire. Three of her Art Clay pieces are included in the book "Stamp Artistry," by Rockport Publishing, and one of ther wire–knit necklaces was featured in the gallery of Art Jewelry magazine in 2007. Peggy loves taking classes from the artists she admires. Over the years, these have included Jayne Persico, Shirley Webster, Arlene Fisch, Mary Hu, Munya Upin, Harold O’Connor, and Michael David Sturlin. Forthe past 4 years, Peggy’s artistic expression has been concentrated in wearable fiber art. She participates in art shows nationally, including the One–of–a–Kind Show in Chicago and the American Craft Council Fine Art Show in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her scarves, shawls, and wearable art can be found in several galleries in Minnesota. |
Philosophy:
While scribbling in my journal one day a long time ago, an old woman walked up to me and told me to write down the following: "When I was young, I knew what I wanted to be. When I was old, I became what I knew not how to be." She slowly walked away. I have never seen this person again. But those words? They’ve flooded into my mind again and again over the past 40 years. Now that I, too, am much older, do I dare say that I&rsquo:m becoming what I always wanted to be – an artist? Yes, I’ve gathered the right tools and learned the proper techniques. But more important, I think the years have brought me experiences to draw from that my youth could never bring. Wisdom? A little. At least enough to know that creating art is a journey, not an end. It just keeps taking me to mysterious places, So, I think I’ll let it take me there.
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Awards / Degrees:
C.R. Hill Award for "Ground Zero" wire knit necklace in the Jewelry + Objects Exhibition 2007, sponsored by the Michigan Silversmiths Guild and held at Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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