About Adam Cope

artist & teacher

The path of an artist has given form & colour to my life. I love the paints, the colours, the slow making of a painting. The materials that form in one’s hand. I enjoy simply looking at things. Sensations. I’m more & more amazed by eyesight. The visual …arts.

Then I started to teach about thirty years ago. It was a revelation to me that learning could be just as creative as painting. My painting style has changed over the decades. It hasn’t stood still. So I must have done some learning along the way.

I particularly enjoy running residential painting courses. They attract an interesting spectrum of people, who often gel well together since there’s this shared passion for painting. A group of painters can generate a remarkable energy. I’m lucky because I learn so much from other painters, weither be they absolute beginners or Leonardo da Vinci.

Then in 1998, I married a lady from Bergerac, had children & settled permanently in the South-West France. This was the enchanted place of dozy summer holidays of my childhood. I was happy here. Sunny fields of wild flowers, full of warmth & scents. Butterflies & high blonde grass. Southern light & colours. Nature is important to me. I feel good when I paint in quiet Nature. I enjoy the silence & the birdsong.

Then came the long painting retreats. Brush in hand, back in those sunny fields, with time on my hands. One solitary winter, I was the guardian of a remote holiday village. Other times, I was artist-in-residence in a ruinous medieval abbey, a crazy haunted château or in a botanical park besides the river Dordogne. It’s good to work in different contexts.

Still enjoying the ride. Still trying to make a good painting. ”

 

Adam Cope – C.V.

Teaching Experience
• About 30 years teaching experience.
• 1997 – ongoing. Residential art courses in South West France.
• Occasional painting holidays for Holiday Property Bonds, UK.
• 1998 – ongoing. Regular atelier style tuition in the Dordogne.
• 2014 – ‘Dessine moi!’ Un Artiste dans l’Ecole Primaire, Castillonnès.
• 2003 – Assistant tutor at ‘Art Holidays at Perrot’.
• 1992 – 1995. Adult Education in a variety of settings such as the Bristol Printmakers Workshop & the Arnolfini MOMA, UK.
• 1990 – 1995. Art & Film Groupworker (part-time) with Adults with Learning Difficulties, Bristol, UK.

Qualifications
• 1991 – Further Education & Adults Teacher Certicate (Avon County Council).
• 1991 – Foundation Diploma Art Therapy (Bath City College).
• 1991 – South West Arts, Training for Arts Educationalists. Arnolfini MOMA. Bristol.
• 1981-1986. BA hons Fine Art (Univ. of Newcastle upon Tyne, studied under Norman Adams R.A.).

Prizes & Residencies

• 2022 – Betty TV (UK)
• Premier Prix des Artistes Professionels, ‘Les Couleurs d’Aquitaine,’ St Avit 24.
• 2021 – ‘World’s Most Scenic River Journeys’ appearance painting the Dordogne. TV (UK).
• 2018, 2015, 2012 & 1996 – Artist in Residence, Pierre Presse (editions of stone lithography).
• 2005 – Artist in Residence, Parc Panoramique de Chateau de Limeuil, ‘Fils de Temps’ Association.
• 2004  – L’Invité d’Honneur,’Les Printemps des Bastides,’ Monpazier.
• 2004 – L’Invité d’Honneur, La Ville de Silly, Belgium. In collaboration with Bergerac Wine Apellation (CIVRB)
• 2003 – L’Invité d’Honneur, Salon Europeen d’Arts Plastiques, Chartrons, Bordeaux.
• 1993 – Prix de Cardilliac (dessin).
• 1993 – Picture This (disability arts), South West Arts Council.

Selected Exhibitions
• 2016 Galerie L’Oeil de la Gazelle, Sarlat.
• 2015 -2012 Galerie de la Presbytère, St.Avit Sénieur.
• 2014  Galerie Ap’Art, Marcilhac sur Célé, Lot.
• 2012,2011, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2002,  La Maison de Vins de Begerac.
• 2011   Galerie André Malraux, Sarlat.
• 2011, 2009, 2006   La Maison de la Böetie, Sarlat.
• 2010   The Little Gallery, St Emillion.
• 2002 – Gallerie Auriel, Toulouse.
• 2002 – 1998  Château de Monbazillac, Dordogne.
• 1998 – Musée Municipal d’ Ussel, Correze.
• 2002 -1996  Gallery Artist, The Richmond Hill Gallery, London.