Ron Cooper | Also Known As: Robert Cooper

Ron Cooper is known for hand built stoneware or earthenware pottery and sculptural vessels. At times, surface decorations draw from graphics or commercially designed motifs. According to Cooper, his sculptural vessels most ...
Read more

Typical Marks

    About
    Biography

    Ron Cooper is known for hand built stoneware or earthenware pottery and sculptural vessels. At times, surface decorations draw from graphics or commercially designed motifs. According to Cooper, his sculptural vessels most often tend to ?disguise? the vessel in a sculptural manner. Cooper uses a wide range of firing temperatures and glazes to complete his work. Throughout the course of his career, Cooper had studios in one of several California cities, San Francisco, Los Altos, or Palo Alto.

    Cooper was a student of Charles 'Bud' McKee at San Francisco State University. Under McKee, Cooper studied alongside Richard Shaw, Ron Nagle, Chris Unterseher, Stephen DeStaebler and many others who would go on to help shape California ceramics in the subsequent decades.

    "
    Apprenticeships & Residencies
    -
    1969

    Independent Study, Nino Caruso, Rome, Italy

    Primary Work Experience
    1966
    -
    2000's

    Art Teacher, Henry M. Gunn High School, Palo Alto, California

    1968
    -
    1972

    Instructor, Ceramics, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, California

    1974
    -
    1975

    Instructor, Ceramics, College of Marin, Kentfield, California

    1976
    -
    1977

    Graduate Lecturer, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California

    Other

    Public Collections
    CV or Resume

    Kuratnick, Jeffrey

    Website(s)
    Tags (related topics)

    Scripps College Collection

    Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection

    Henry M. Gunn High School

    Foothill College

    Dane Cloutier Archive

    Forrest L. Merrill Collection

    College of Marin

    San Francisco State University

    Charles 'Bud' McKee

    American Museum of Ceramic Art

    AMOCA

    American Ceramic Society

    ACerS

    Center for Craft

    CfC

    Citation: Kuratnick, Jeffrey Ron Cooper, "The Marks Project."
    Last modified April 29, 2026. https://www.themarksproject.org/artists/ron-cooper

    Objects
    Collections

    Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College
    Claremont, California

    Take your place among TMP artists