About

Nicole Cooper confronts the Climate Crisis through her work. Active in the solar energy industry and climate organizations, she's experienced how emotions can both motivate and paralyze action. Her figurative oil paintings use vibrant colors, energetic brushwork, and the human form to explore humanity as an interwoven, evolving force. Through her work she investigates the complex feelings surrounding climate change to create pathways toward connection, understanding, and action.

 

Nicole Cooper (American, b. 1983) lives and works as an artist in New York, NY. Cooper holds a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute (Kansas City, MO) and has completed the Yale Norfolk School of Art Summer Residency with Yale University (Norfolk, CT).

 

In 2025, her work won the People’s Choice Award at the Creative Climate Awards. Her art and interview were featured in USA Today's 2023 article, "All talk and, yes, action. Could conversations about climate change be a solution?"
A trained Climate Café facilitator and curator with Climate Imaginarium (Governors Island), Cooper is also New York Artists Circle member. Her work is held in private collections in the U.S. and Italy.

 

Cooper's most recent solo exhibitions include "Living Resonance" at Angad Arts Hotel (St. Louis, MO), "Pivotal" at Fontbonne University Fine Art Gallery (St. Louis, MO), and "Nicole Cooper: Interwoven" at the Schmidt Art Center (Belleville, IL). She has exhibited in several group exhibitions in notable New York venues like Field Projects, Hudson Guild Gallery, and Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition and St. Louis, MO venues like Duane Reed Gallery, COCA Millstone Gallery, Art St. Louis, Foundry Art Center, and has participated in the Open Studios STL organized by the Contemporary Art Museum.