Eileen Cooper RA – Butterfly

This imagery of a woman in a tree was inspired by Julia ‘Butterfly’ Hill, an American environmental activist. She lived in a 200-foot-tall, approximately 1000 year old California Redwood tree for nearly two years  (1997–99) The tree Butterfly-Hill protected was saved, her actions raised awareness of the plight of ancient forests.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Eileen Cooper’s themes are both personal and universal, often referencing mythology, with its protagonist symbolic of universal truths: love, relationships, vanity, vulnerability. The human figure remains a constant presence in her work often accompanied by a symbolic companion: a cat, a tiger, a ladder, a boat. More recently a return to drawing from life has underpinned a parallel body if work with drawings of those who have touched her life and long celebrated career both as a painter and printmaker.

Eileen Cooper has had a long and celebrated career both as a painter and printmaker, with themes both personal and universal. Her work is in many museum collections, including, Tate, National Portrait Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum, The Royal Collection, The Hepworth Wakefield, Walpole Library Yale University,  Dallas Museum of Art.

Elected Royal Academician 2000 and Keeper of the Royal Academy of Arts 2010-2017She was awarded OBE 2016 and was made Hon Fellow of the Royal College of Art, and of Murray Edwards College University of Cambridge