Background
Cooley, Cynthia Furber was born on July 17, 1931 in Minneapolis. Daughter of John Roscoe and Jessie Anna (Vilendrer) Furber.
Cooley, Cynthia Furber was born on July 17, 1931 in Minneapolis. Daughter of John Roscoe and Jessie Anna (Vilendrer) Furber.
Bachelor, Lawrence University, 1953. Postgraduate, Minneapolis College Art & Design, 1954. Postgraduate, Boston Museum Fine Arts School, 1957.
Cooley is best known for her vivid paintings of steel mill interiors and of Pittsburgh"s hillside neighborhoods and industrial valleys. She says she was “originally drawn to the powerful geometric forms of the working mills.” She also has captured another of western Pennsylvania’s industries in her series of coal mine paintings. She works mostly in acrylic and watercolors to create memorable works from her own on-site sketches and photographs.
As a lifelong traveler, Cooley’s paintings also reflect the many places she has visited, ranging from her watercolors of Giverny to her acrylics of doorways in Tunisia.
In 1989, she accompanied the American Wind Symphony Orchestra as the artist-in-residence as they sailed on the waterways of northern Europe. She was named a "Master Artist" in Pittsburgh in 1998.
In 2003, Cooley was one of the selected artists who participated in the DinoMite Days event sponsored by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. In honor of Pittsburgh’s “historical connection to dinosaurs and to world-class scientific research,” Cooley transformed a Stegosaurus sculpture into a cityscape tribute to her hometown of Pittsburgh.
Her dinosaur, which was displayed outdoors to the public, was named “Troyus Hillosaurus,” and displayed a view of Troy Hill from downtown Pittsburgh on one side, and a view of downtown from Troy Hill on the other.
Over 1,860 of Cooley’s works are in private collections, and over 90 are in public and corporate collections, including:
Carnegie Museum of Art
Pennsylvania State Museum
Westmoreland Museum of American Art
Butler Institute of American Art
University of Pittsburgh
Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center
Pennsylvania State University Earth & Mineral Sciences Museum
Pittsburgh Public Schools
The Duquesne Club.
Trustee Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, since 1990. Member National Association Women Artists, Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (board directors 1979-1985, life member), Pittsburgh Society Artists (founding member, secretary 1968-1972), Pittsburgh Watercolor Society (board directors, president 1976-1985).
Married William Warren Cooley. Children: Warren, Robin.