Koop, Wanda

Wanda Koop is one of Canada’s most distinguished and inventive artists. Her career spans three decades and includes over 50 solo exhibitions across Canada and around the world. From the outset of her career, Koop garnered critical and curatorial acclaim for her work. Starting in the 1980s, she charted new directions for painting, pushing the boundaries of presentation and display with her monumental-scale installations. Over the last decade, she has been recognized for incorporating poetic video work into her painting environments. In 1973, Koop graduated from the Lemoine Fitzgerald School of Art at the University of Manitoba. She has been the recipient of numerous national and international honours, including the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the Japan Fund Award, and the Order of Canada. She has also been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Winnipeg, the Emily Carr Institute (now University) of Art and Design in Vancouver, and the University of Manitoba. Koop is also well known for her community work and social activism. In 1998, she founded Art City as a storefront art centre, bringing contemporary visual artists and inner-city youths together to explore the creative process.