Today we’d like to introduce you to Cooper Lawson
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Cooper’s Curiosities began when I was 17 years old. Really, the idea of it occurred to me at 16, but having limited start up funds available meant that I had to spend more time preparing for my first show. I used what I had on hand, mostly making costume pieces and props at the time. But I took on commissions for custom work in just about every medium of art that I could. Since then, I’ve stuck to my roots and have only used reclaimed, repurposed and sustainable materials for my work. This has always meant that I need to get my hands dirty in my search for raw materials. I’ve jumped in dumpsters, dug through retired landfills, even salvaged old transmission gears from broken down cars and tractors that I find abandoned in the woods. Now that I am 28, my art has evolved to the point that when I have to answer the dreaded “describe your work” section of event applications, I usually have to respond with something vague like “decor that is not technically a crime against god” due to the variety of what I do and let the pictures speak for themselves…
I can’t tell if I’m being clever or lazy when I do that, but it works most of the time. I’ll take that.
The purpose of Cooper’s Curiosities was originally a “self sustaining hobby”. I’m autistic, which means that I hyper-fixate on things that bring me joy. The problem with that was that it was getting expensive to keep creating and I quickly ran out of storage space. I either had to sell the work, or stop creating. That was not an option for me. As an added benefit, it taught me how to talk to people. The profit was more of an extra perk to the fun of the job until I became an “actual-factual adult”. It’s a gift to be able to do what you love and benefit so much from it.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
In 2018, my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. It basically derailed everything. I started to take on at most two shows a month and only if I knew that she was okay or had someone with her while I was away. All of my remaining time was spent at school, work or with her. However, she never let me give up any of it for her, even when I felt too burnt out or hit a creative wall.
She died on January 1st this year…
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m best known for my paintings and sculptural work these days. I work with several small businesses and each one has different needs and tastes. For example, Awakened Soul mostly sells my sculpted candles while Comics Exchange has better luck with prints of my paintings. My original paintings mostly sell on First Fridays whenever I have a chance to participate. I love it when people come into my booth at shows and say something like, “Oh! you’re the artist who does the paintings that we can touch! I saw them the other day and there are prints of them at one of my favorite stores!”
For the past few years, I have been exploring what social contracts can be broken in the art world. Last year, I had several First Friday openings titled “Art Petting Zoos” where every piece could be touched and interacted with by the viewer. My favorite ones have hidden details in them that can only be revealed by shining flashlights on them or moving them around. It’s all good fun.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love that Knoxville has such a wide variety of small, locally owned businesses, and am grateful for the communities that they inspire around them. Unfortunately, I’ve seen many of them struggling these past few years and many have had to close their doors.
Pricing:
- Commission work is typically decided on based on material costs (obviously, I’ve learned to keep those low) and time (I enjoy my work so I’ve often been told that I undercharge for that as well)
- Prints are created locally and pricing is mostly based on how much it cost to have made.
- It is always cheaper to purchase my work directly from me at shows than from a store or venue!
- (note: I’m not sure if this was how I was supposed to answer this… sorry)
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coopers_curiosities_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LawsonCrafts
