Don Cooper was born in 1944 in Belton, Texas. He grew up in Georgia and subsequently received his training from the University of Georgia in Athens, earning a B.F.A. degree and then an M.F.A. degree in drawing and painting.
Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts.
After teaching at West Georgia College (later University of West Georgia) in Carrollton, he moved in 1976 to Atlanta, where he taught at the Atlanta College of Art from 1994 to 2005.
Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts.
Cooper has showcased his work in exhibitions around the world, from the Olivier Gallery in London, England, to Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. Among his many accomplishments, he has received the Fulbright Artist Fellowship and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia Working Artist Grant, and he was commissioned to create the marble and mosaic floor piece in Concourse C at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
His works are part of many corporate and museum collections, including those at the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Coca-Cola Company. His painting Puffie’s in the Tropics (1975) and drawing Swan Riders (1977) are part of Georgia’s State Art Collection.
