Michie Cooper

Michie Cooper stands at the forefront of a new Southern art movement, one that speaks through fabric, thread, and texture as if they were brushstrokes on canvas. Fresh from a residency and exhibition at the storied Chloe Hotel on St. Charles Avenue, Cooper has quickly become recognized as one of the most important emerging fabric artists of the modern South.

Her artistry is singular: a seamless fusion of painterly realism with the tactile immediacy and skillful hand of free-motion sewing. Thousands of yards of thread in nuanced shades and color become her palette, stitched with precision and intuition to conjure images that feel alive. Cooper’s work bridges the classical and the contemporary, finding its rhythm in the architecture, flora, and fleeting moods of New Orleans—the city she has called home for over a decade.

A graduate of Tulane University and a classically trained artist, Cooper also brings the eye of a collector to her work. She incorporates rare vintage, antique, and bespoke fabrics into her compositions, creating layered backdrops where history, memory, and vision converge.

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Artist Statement

Thread is my paint, fabric my canvas. Each piece begins with texture and grows into form, stitched layer upon layer until mood and memory emerge. New Orleans gives me both subject and rhythm: the houses that lean with time, the wild tangle of native plants, the light that flickers gold at dusk.

In my new series, Chosen, I turn my attention to the neighborhoods of Bywater and Marigny—communities shaped by resilience, creativity, and the idea of chosen home. Just as thread weaves strength from fragility, so too do these places weave together histories and identities, neighbors and newcomers, heritage and reinvention.

The fabrics I use, some rare, antique, or hand-sourced, carry their own past lives into my work. They ground the imagery in something tactile and real, while the stitching allows me to reimagine what home, place, and belonging can look like.