Biography

Cooper Salmon (b. Sacramento, California) is a Bay Area visual artist, painter, and educator who lives with visual disability. He received his BFA in Painting/Drawing from California College of the Arts in 2019 and is currently a 2025 MFA candidate at Stanford University. Cooper paints cartoon-like, playful illustrations of everyday moments that draw inspiration from people in his life and from his evolving experience of sight. He works primarily with acrylic figurative painting approaches, using expressive brushstrokes and thin layers of acrylic paint. His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in galleries throughout the Bay Area including at Soft Times Gallery, slash Art, WERKSHACK Gallery, Gearbox Gallery, and Palo Alto Art Center to name a few. He is the recipient of the William and Gloria Brobeck Scholarship from CCA and the University Schools Innovation Award from University of Memphis Middle School for his unique approach to classroom learning as a fine arts instructor.

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Education

2025
MFA, Art Practice,
Stanford University,
Palo Alto, CA

2019
BFA with Distinction, Painting and Drawing, California College of the Arts,
San Francisco, CA

Teaching

2025
Adjunct Faculty
Stanford University

2020-2021
Part-time Faculty,
University of Memphis
Middle School, Memphis, TN

Residencies

2025
Artist in Residence
Headlands Center for the Arts, Visual Category
Marin, CA

Scholarships/Awards

2021
University Schools
Innovation Award

2018
William and Gloria Brobeck Scholarship for Artreprenuer’s “Emerging” recipient;
second place

Publications

2022
Issue #32 - artist interview, print, Create! Magazine,
New York, NY

Murals

2021
San Francisco Baking Institute, South San Francisco, CA (partnership)

Living Room Plant Co,
Pacifica, CA (assistant)

Facebook offices,
Sunnyvale location, 8th floor. SunnyvaleCA (assistant)

2018
Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco, CA (group)

Solo Shows

2023
Over and Over
Exhibition/Room/Gallery,
San Francisco, CA

2022
The Way We Were,
WERKSHACK Gallery,
Oakland, CA

2019
All Dressed Up,
Hubbell Street Galleries,
San Francisco, CA

2018
Tableaux,
California College of the Arts,
San Francisco, CA

Looking Glass,
Burren College of Art,
County Clare, Ireland

Group Shows

2024
In Feast or Famine
Palo Alto Art Center
Palo Alto, CA

2022

Within Sight or From Imagination,
Oakland, CA

Small Works,
Soft Times Gallery,
San Francisco, CA

Blessed Unrest,
Gallery Route One,
Point Reyes Station, CA

2019
Commencement Exhibition
the Nave ProjectSpace,
California College of the Arts,
San Francisco, CA

Pathways,
Hubbell Street Galleries
Project Space,
San Francisco, CA

Embodiment,
Hubbell Street Galleries Project Space,
San Francisco, CA

2018
Leave it at That,
Burren College of Art,
County Clare, Ireland

2017
Fine Arts All-College Honors & Awards Scholarship Exhibition, The Oliver Art, Center, Oakland, CA

Grounds for Change
Lindsay Dirkx Brown Gallery, San Ramon, CA

2015
Small Showcase,
Delta Workshop,
Sacramento, CA

Reflections,
Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, CA

2012
SOURCE,
Benvenuti Performing Arts Center, Sacramento, CA

Cooper Salmon 2026 ©

Cooper Salmon

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