ARTISTIC LEGACY

The Bursary In His Name Has Proved A Lasting Gift From Mulmur Artist Reed Cooper To Local Artists

BY ANTHONY JENKINS

During his lifetime, artist Reed Cooper made an impressive contribution to the Headwaters arts scene. A founding member of Kame & Kettle Artists (kames and kettles are landforms left behind in these hills by receding glaciers), the artist showed his own accomplished works and those of other local artists at the Arielcroft Gallery in his Mulmur home. He taught printmaking; exhibited at the Museum of Dufferin and beyond, including the National Gallery; and he participated in studio tours, including the North of 89 Studio Tour held every fall.

And when Reed died in 2006 at the age of 75, he left a legacy that included not only an enduring body of work, but also a lasting gift of support for local artists, whom he befriended, taught, mentored, encouraged and advocated for.

Making art can be an unsettling and solitary pursuit, uncertain in appreciation, unrewarding financially and undermining of confidence.

Sometime a little means a lot. Reed was a quiet man. What he said mattered. Late in his life, he attended the opening of a solo show by an artist who was apprehensive about how her work would be received. Waiting until afterward, when the hubbub had died down, Reed quietly told her, “I like your work. You need to keep on doing what you’re doing.”

That artist was Christine Rogers. And in 2007, she became the first to receive a

$3,000 Reed T. Cooper Bursary in Visual Arts, which was instituted by Reed’s widow, Jane, under the auspices of the Dufferin Arts Council.

Bermuda-born and McMaster University-educated, the lifelong artist started as a weekend painter who was able to devote himself fully to painting, and later printmaking, only after retiring early from his position as an economist with the Ontario government.

In the 1990s, Reed and Jane moved permanently to Mulmur, where they had maintained a weekend home since 1970. There, the two established and operated the Arielcroft Gallery. Reed looked after the artistic side while Jane tended the business end of things.

Reed’s abiding love was landscapes, in oil and watercolour, and later, serigraphs, or screen prints. He drew inspiration from the Mulmur landscapes around him, as well as the rugged country farther north in the Killarney area and regular visits to England.

Even when his later work ventured into the abstract, “he always jumped off from landscapes, inspiring and uplifting” in which he felt “the hand of God,” says Jane. “The last 20 years of his life were probably the happiest. He was doing what he loved and those around him were doing the same thing. It was a wonderful community of artists and neighbours.”

For Jane, a highlight of the history of the bursary was the exhibition of a large body of work mounted at the Alton Mill Arts Centre by Linda Jenetti, the Coopers’ friend, near neighbour in Mulmur and 2012 bursary recipient. What Jane saw was a gratifying display of excellence – stunning oils portraying the landscape of Italy, where the bursary had helped send Linda to study, paint and grow.

Dufferin Arts Council now offers a Linda Jenetti Travel Award to honour Linda, who died in 2019.

A river meanders through Mulmur, pretty and slow. At a spot on its banks not far from the Cooper home, Reed painted one of his final watercolours, Pine River Winter, in the last year of his life.

“It is semi-abstract,” notes Jane, “but you could identify the spot.” The painting still hangs on her wall, along with others by her husband, and remains “something I could never part with.”

It is pleasing to think of the legacy of Reed Cooper – the artists and peers he befriended and inspired, and those he continues to encourage through the Reed T. Cooper Bursary – as a pebble in a secluded shallow of that same Pine River. A pebble that continues to send out ripples.

In their own words

As an artist myself, I was grateful to receive a Reed T. Cooper Bursary in 2018. This meant that Darlene Hassall, the other 2018 recipient, and I sat on the 2019 judging panel, giving us a bird’s-eye view of the process.

The experience inspired me to check in with other bursary recipients, some of whom I had come to know, and ask them to comment on their own artistic journey and how the bursary influenced their work. Here’s some of what they had to say.

2019

Ricky Schaede

Orangeville

Media: oil, acrylic, ink

I became an artist when I was living in a very small town – Alton. That might have affected the nature of my art. With nothing else to do, I dove into art. I’m glad I had that period. It made me appreciate the quiet of small-town life. In the city, I’d be socializing more, have to work more, have less time and mental space for art. Art is exploring the imagination. New things. New worlds.

2019

Ann Randeraad

Amaranth

Media: clay

I knew Reed Cooper. He lived in a very quiet spot, making beautiful paintings. The beauty in the landscape and in the region is a fantastic inspiration for me and for many artists. The region is also very supportive of its artists, people drawn to the beauty of the area who also appreciate art. People looking for beauty in all areas of life.

2018

Anthony Jenkins

Mono (now Brockville)

Media: oil, acrylic, ink

The Reed Cooper Bursary pushed me to grow artistically. And when I participated on the panel awarding the bursary for the following year, I was able to tell Reed’s wife, Jane, and daughter, Sheila McCutcheon, that their family’s generous award had made another fundamental difference. I had come to know of Reed Cooper, to admire his work and spread word of it.

2018

Darlene

Shelburne

Media: oil, acrylic

Darlene died in 2022, but these words about her art appear on her website: I see things differently, that’s what I want to show. I want to cause the viewer to pause and reflect. To consider that there may be another way to look at something.

2017

Lucky for us being in this area. Even the Dufferin Arts Council lunches ... how moving and inspiring being with peers and people who are so interested, committed and supportive. The effort, the volunteerism, the sincere support of the arts and artists. It’s a gift! The bursary is an extension of that, the icing on the cake.