ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a self-trained artist whose wish is to create art that evokes emotion through color and abstract organic pattern. I have worked with various media types over the years: I started with pen and ink, then moved to acrylics, and after much trial and error, settled on watercolor. I have enjoyed working with each style for different reasons, and moving onto a new media has always been bittersweet. Ultimately, I have ended up with a style I am most comfortable with and which most reflects who I am as an artist.
Watercolor has opened a new world of possibilities for me. I love how playful I can be, let my imagination go wherever it wants to at that moment and see what happens, and there is always an element of surprise. My approach to watercolor is quite untraditional in its abstract form as well as my choice to paint on mixed media board instead of traditional paper. I still enjoy painting on paper at times, but my favorite surface has become the wonderful mixed media board for its versatility and more modern finish.
ARTIST BIO
Magdalena Cooney was born and raised in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) by professional artist parents. Her father was a well known theater set designer, puppet maker and children’s books illustrator, and her mom was a theater set painter and industrial design artist. Magdalena spent most of her childhood under communism where the lack of materialistic possessions she now believes fuelled her young mind’s imagination and made of her the artist she is today. Growing up among artist parents and their large group of creative and expressive actor, writer and painter friends, she felt constantly challenged and inspired by them. They were her first critics and never held anything back.
She has been living in the United States for the past 14 years and spends her days taking care of her two young children and during any free moment, painting and trying to establish her art career.
Elliot Bay Brewery and Pub is located at 4720 California Ave. SW.