The Sidney Cooper Arts Trust is celebrating the legacy of Thomas Sidney Cooper to Canterbury in a number of ways: publishing a book about his life; setting up a new archive; developing a Cooper AI Avatar with the UCA; getting a new blue plaque placed outside the gallery building and running talks and events.
‘Separated, but not Divorced’ is the title of the new book on Thomas Sidney Cooper by Dr Darren Henley CBE, published by the Trust and launched in Canterbury Waterstones on July 16th. Booking on the Waterstones website via Eventbrite, cost £5.
Darren will be in discussion with Dr Charlotte Frost, Executive Dean of the UCA.
A local Canterbury resident, Darren has long been fascinated by Cooper and studied him at postgraduate level. ‘Separated, but not Divorced –The Artistic Life and Times of Thomas Sidney Cooper‘, reappraises the life and artistic legacy of Sidney Cooper and argues that, though this style of Victorian landscape painting is no longer in vogue, his work deserves greater recognition.
The title of the book is taken from Separated, but not Divorced, the title of the magnificent picture of Charlie the Bull displayed in The Beaney Museum in Canterbury. Darren argues that this title is a good allegory for the life of Sidney himself – self taught, he became a hugely successful painter in Victorian England but was never really accepted by the London art ‘establishment’.
This beautiful hardback art book, with 36 full colour illustrations, is available by contacting us using the Contact Us page on the website and at The Beaney Museum on Canterbury High Street, online through Waterstones and the Canterbury Christ Church University campus bookshop.
The Sidney Cooper Trust is pleased to be supporting the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) on an exciting project to create an AI avatar of Thomas Sidney Cooper, the celebrated Victorian animal painter and one of Canterbury’s most important cultural figures. Led by UCA’s Dr Charlotte Frost, it builds on the success of a similar venture at UCA’s Farnham campus: an AI avatar of Lizzy Bennet (Jane Austen’s beloved heroine), led by Professor Sophy Smith (as part of the Games and Innovation Nexus programme, which Frost managed).
The avatar will be powered by bespoke AI technology from StarPal, allowing it to speak as though it were the artist himself, drawing initially on his autobiography, My Life. Just as importantly, it will be able to gather stories from people connected to Cooper or who studied at the art school he founded, capturing memories that might otherwise be lost and sharing his legacy with new audiences. Cooper’s descendants will be actively involved, helping to shape the avatar’s authenticity and ensure an ethical approach throughout.
Cooper founded Canterbury’s Sidney Cooper School of Art to give free tuition to those who could not afford it, and his influence on the city’s artistic life endures today. This work offers a genuinely new way of keeping that legacy alive: not as a static exhibit, but as a living, growing archive of his life and the community he shaped.
UCA’s initial funding covers a proof-of-concept version, presented on a laptop and tested first with our own members, alongside the Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, and, in the final stages, a small group of the public. The response will shape the next steps and future funding options.
Sidney Cooper Arts Trust is collaborating with The Beaney Museum and the University for the Creative Arts on the feasibility of raising funding to establish a new centrally held archive to bring together the disparate holdings of Cooper work and effects held by his family, Cooper collectors and experts, The Beaney, the UCA and Canterbury Christ Church University.
In the meantime the Trust has employed a Canterbury-based freelance archivist, Nicola Waddington, to map Cooper’s scattered archival papers and memorabilia, including those of Kenneth Westwood (the foremost expert on Cooper, who died last year) and Cooper’s descendants.
We are making sure Canterbury and region knows about the legacy of Sidney Cooper by speaking regularly at events around the city. If your community group or association would like to arrange a talk by our Vice Chair Alison Coles at one of your events, then please get in touch with Alison on alisonc@sidneycooperarts.org or via the Contact Us page.
The Canterbury Commemoration Society has approved a request by the Sidney Cooper Arts Trust to erect a blue plaque to Sidney Cooper on the exterior of the gallery building (and which was also his birthplace). We hope this will be in place by the end of the year. This plaque would complement the existing blue plaque at Vernon Holme, the house Cooper built at Harbledown outside Canterbury (and currently the home of Kent College Junior School).
The Sidney Cooper building is currently undergoing some improvement works by the Council in advance of Expressions of Interest being requested for the future management/development of the building (and which the Trust will be responding to). The Trust has funded the repair and regilding of the Coat of Arms on the front of the building and is grateful to local artist and signwriter Dennis Blowes for his expertise.
‘Separated, but not Divorced’ – the artistic life and times of Thomas Sidney Cooper’ by Dr Darren Henley. Publisher: The Sidney Cooper Research Group/Arts Trust, Canterbury. ISBN 978-1-9192746-0-7. The book is available to purchase for £20 at The Beaney, CCCU bookshop and via the Waterstones website.
Alison Coles, Vice-Chair, has given a number of talks on the life and work of Sidney Cooper, including to the Canterbury Society. If you are interested in arranging a talk for your group please contact Alison on alisonc@sidneycooperarts.org or via the Contact Us page.
Contact us to find out more or tell us what you’d like to see in a newly re-opened Sidney Cooper building in Canterbury