Anita Walter Cooper

Anita has enjoyed drawing since an early age, and began painting in oils in elementary school.  She grew up on a farm in eastern Kentucky.  At Berea College, she majored 
in fine art, which gave her a wonderful perspective on the people and landscapes of Morocco, where she served in the Peace Corps for two years following graduation.  In 1966, she returned to the United States and completed a Master’s degree in art education at the University of Iowa.  After graduation, she moved to suburban Washington, D.C., married David Cooper, a friend from Peace Corps days.  For a few years she illustrated film strips for teaching deaf children to read.  Anita did not paint much while raising her children.  When her husband retired, and they moved to Costa Rica.  There she illustrated a book of bromeliads in watercolor and did pen and ink drawings for scientific papers while volunteering at the National Institute for Biodiversity (INBio).  Since moving to Staunton in 1997, her watercolors have appeared (and won awards) in many exhibitions including a major competition in Rio de Janeiro.   She has also been teaching watercolor classes in Staunton’s Beverley Street Studio School.  In addition, Anita has continued her studies with several well-known watercolorists.