Artist Bio

Lily Cooper is a regional and nationally recognized artist who creates work in painting, drawing, photography, traditional animation and film. In 2019 Lily was awarded a MFA in Media Arts from University of Utah and received undergraduate degrees in Art and Sociology from University of Nevada - Reno in 2016. Lily creates art in different mediums that depict the human experience. Her sociological background expands the substance of her artistic messages and observations. Her lifelong fascination with nature is also incorporated into her creative and sociological themes. Her multitude of experiences add perspective to her artwork.

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Lily took to art quickly as a child and gained regional, state and gold medal national recognition for her painting Irish Ancestor in the 2012 National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Past distinguished Scholastic winners include: Andy Warhol, Ken Burns, Stephen King, Richard Linklater, John Updike, Joyce Carol Oates, Stlvia Plath, Zac Posen, Robert Redford, Stan Brackhage, John Lithgow, Robert Indiana, John Baldessari, Truman Capote, Lena Dunham, Tschabalala Self, Peter S. Beagle and more.

Her painting, Irish Ancestor was in the .004% of national winners in a competitive group of over 200,000 artists. The painting was exhibited at Parsons the New School for Design where exhibitors were also honored at Carnegie Hall in New York with Meryl Streep, MC Lars and Edward Sorel speaking at the awards ceremony.  Joyce Carol Oates, Tony Hawk, John Leland, Roz Chast, Rachel Goslin, Michael Bieru, David Sedaris, Kay WalkingStick and distinguished judges selected Irish Ancestors as a Gold Medal awardee. Irish Ancestor was one of only 50 pieces handpicked to go to the White House and be exhibited at the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities for an entire year in Washington D.C.

While an undergrad, Lily Cooper received a grant to develop and display her honors thesis exhibit entitled, Art as a Medium of Expression. In graduate school, Lily was the first student to be awarded a $15,000 Graduate Research Fellowship resulting in the creation of her documentary on China's one child policy. Her film, Meet Me Where You Left Me, was accepted into several competitive film festivals with international jurors. Two of her films were accepted into the F&MAD film showcase in 2018 & 2019 and another into the First Time Filmmaker Sessions Festival in 2019. Lily is a featured artist in The Feminine Lens, 2020 Cinemaeye Journal and was interviewed by the SmART magazine in 2021. Lily served as an video editor for a promotional video for the The Nevada Colorado River Commission.

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Lily Cooper lives in Reno, Nevada where she continues to create art.

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