Barbara Cooper works fluidly between sculpture and drawing. Recent solo exhibitions were at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington (32 page color catalogue) and the Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, both in 2007. She had a solo show at the Chicago Cultural Center in 2006. Other solo shows include Fassbender Gallery in Chicago, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and the Hafnarborg Institute of Culture and Fine Art, in Iceland. Group exhibits include the Herron School of Art, Indianapolis; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Lemberg Gallery, Detroit; Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago; the Cranbrook Art Museum, Michigan.

Cooper’s residencies include; the Kohler Arts / Industry Program, Yaddo, Macdowell, Ragdale, Blue Mountain Center, Montalvo, and the Camargo Foundation in France.

Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Cranbrook Museum of Art, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin, among others.

Cooper recently completed public art commissions for the Avalon Library in Chicago and the Chicago Transit Administration, Brown Line Renovation. She is currently installing a large project for the Rhode Island Airport in Providence. A Chicago resident, Cooper has received three Illinois Arts Council Fellowships.