Hannah Cooper
b. 1981, Sydney, Australia
Lives and works on Gundungurra Country, Bundanoon, Southern Highlands, NSW
Hannah Cooper, Artist Portrait, 2022
Hannah Cooper uses traditional cloth-making techniques to produce woven paintings. Production of “ordinary” domestic textiles has heavily influenced Hannah’s artistic work, which plays with (and pushes against) the formal language of geometric abstraction and the structural and creative constraints of weaving. An over-under grid is the basis of all weaving - Hannah’s work is rooted in the ability to emphasise or distort that very simple structure: to stay firmly on the grid or move off it.
Hannah is a self-taught weaver, teaching herself basic techniques on a rigid heddle loom in 2017 and concentrating on simple plain weave blankets made from locally-sourced superfine merino wool. She now weaves on a 12-shaft countermarch floor loom, utilising more complex structures but maintaining a focus on using ethically-sourced fibres. Hannah naturally-dyes thread with plants and animals (leaves, barks, roots, flowers and insects) for use in her artworks.
Hannah Cooper, studio view, 2023
Hannah Cooper, studio view, 2023
Hannah Cooper, Red sky at night (hashtag aussiesummer), 2023, handwoven mulberry silk dyed with plants, insects and iron, 23k gold leaf, 102 x 102cm
Hannah Cooper, One track in, same track out (hashtag vanlife), 2023, handwoven mulberry silk dyed with plants, insects and iron, 23k gold leaf , 102 x 102cm
Hannah Cooper, It rained for seven days straight (hashtag coasttrip), 2023, handwoven mulberry silk dyed with plants and iron, 23k gold leaf, 102 x 102cm
Hannah Cooper, City I (hashtag citylights), 2023, handwoven mulberry silk dyed with plants and iron, 23k gold leaf, 71 x 71cm
Hannah Cooper, City II (hashtag citylights), 2023, handwoven mulberry silk dyed with plants and iron, 23k gold leaf , 71 x 71cm
Hannah Cooper, Landscape at 115kph (hashtag bluebirdday), 2023, handwoven mulberry silk dyed with plants, 23k gold leaf, 154 x 54cm
Hannah Cooper, Landscape at 115kph (hashtag forestforthetrees), 2023, handwoven mulberry silk dyed with plants, insect castings and iron, 23k gold leaf, 154 x 54cm
Hannah Cooper, Landscape at 115kph (hashtag redcentre), 2023, handwoven mulberry silk dyed with plants and insects, 23k gold leaf , 154 x 54cm
Hannah Cooper, Daily dose of perspective (hashtag sunset), 2023, handwoven mulberry silk dyed with plants, insects and iron, Set of 9 pieces, 36 x 36cm each (Framed)
Hannah Cooper, Heidelberg pastoral redux (hashtag canolafields), 2023, handwoven naturally-dyed mulberry silk, gold leaf, 103 x 103cm (framed)
Hannah Cooper, The blue of distance (hashtag sunset), 2022, handwoven mulberry silk, naturally dyed with plants and insects, 171 x 101 x 5 cm (framed)
Hannah Cooper, 'An hour out of Alice (landscape at 130kph)', 2022, handwoven mulberry silk, naturally dyed with plants and insects, 65 x 96 x 3cm.
Hannah Cooper, Studio and process images, 2022.
