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Area artist Sarah Cooper stands next to a multi-media piece she created on wood of a friend titled St. Jael.

Sierra Vista artist Sarah Cooper walks next to a three dimensional art concept she is working on which includes a mural at her home.

Cooper works in her home studio.

Area artist Sarah Cooper stands next to a multi-media piece she created on wood of a friend titled St. Jael.

Sierra Vista artist Sarah Cooper walks next to a three dimensional art concept she is working on which includes a mural at her home.

Cooper works in her home studio.

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SIERRA VISTA — Sarah Cooper cannot stop creating things.

Even as a toddler crawling around on all fours, Sierra Vista’s talented one-of-a-kind mixed-media artist was making things out of sticks, stones, beads, anything she could get her hands on.

And now, at 37 — whether it’s a stunning 90-foot wall mural, a haunting painting of a deceased friend that takes your breath away or a chandelier in her studio made from a bicycle wheel with beaded string lights — the Detroit native with a distinctive vision whose works are almost riveting to behold is still making things.

But today, the projects she is creating is no longer the work of a toddler.

Cooper has come full circle from a child dabbling with watercolors to an artist whose work layered in startling imagery is beginning to turn heads from Cochise County to gallery owners in Los Angeles.

Cooper — whose free-form style covers the gamut from fantasy-based to deeply evocative and powerful themes — couldn’t feel more blessed with where her work is suddenly taking her.

“What I’m doing right now is what I love, it’s what never leaves me,” said Cooper in her little studio with windows that open to the sweep of the Huachuca Mountains while wild turkeys move through her property. “I’m constantly creating or painting something. It seems as if I’ve been doing this ever since I can remember.”

After completing a monthlong Arizona-themed mural on a pool wall that spools into adjoining walls adorned with giant butterflies, snakes, clouds and moons, word about her talent as a muralist began to spread.

“As soon as the rains stop, I’ll be doing restoration work in Tombstone on a 30-year-old cowboy theme on the wall of an RV park,” said Cooper. “It should be a fun, challenging project, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Cooper grew up in a family of artists, and whatever projects she did as a child — even painting on her bedroom walls — were widely applauded by her parents.

“Everyone in my family was an artist of some kind, mostly oil painters,” she recalled. “So I was constantly exposed to this as a child, and my entire childhood was immersed in art. It was something I just naturally gravitated towards, and I was always encouraged, no matter what I did. Everything was in front of me, and I utilized everything I could get my hands on — oil paints, water colors, anything and everything.

“It was a fun way to grow up, especially when your parents and everyone told you what you were painting on your bedroom walls was great and beautiful.”

As a teenager in Detroit, she was constantly painting murals, both inside and outside of buildings.

“It didn’t matter where or on what,” she said. “Any opportunity that presented itself, I took advantage of it. The bigger (the medium) the better.”

Eager to find more exposure for her work, she began setting up shop with her easel and brushes at festivals, music venues and bars where musicians — including her husband — were playing. Working a crowd while painting had a stunning effect on audiences.

“People were drawn to it, and they loved what I was doing,” she said.

It also brought in some money.

“I did it in Los Angeles for a while, and not only were people coming over to see what I was painting, many people bought my paintings,” she said. “Doing that was the most fun I ever had.”

Lately, word-of-mouth of her work has caught on and has drawn the attention of several gallery owners in Los Angeles, and she is considering doing some gallery shows.

But for now, Cooper is busy, continuing her extensive mural work, painting at various venues and festivals and experimenting with new, expressive styles of art.

“It’s what I’ve grown up with my whole life,” she said. “This is what centers me and what I love.”

To contact Cooper, call 213-306-0360.

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