Biography

Allison Beckwith Cooke was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma. She spent most of her childhood living on the East Coast before moving to Wisconsin in 1970. Allison earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1976 and a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Drawing and Painting from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 1988.

Throughout her teaching career, Allison has taught a wide range of studio disciplines including design, color theory, drawing, life drawing, pastel, oil, acrylic and watercolor at the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and, more recently, full time in the Department of Art and Design housed in the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Allison has taught summer courses in drawing and painting at Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy since 2007. These courses take advantage of the both the Florentine experience and the painting studio at SRISA and have included On-Site Drawing and Painting with Egg Tempera: Renaissance Techniques for the Contemporary Artist.

Allison's passion for the ancient and classical imagery that inspires her artwork has been enhanced by her travels to Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Russia, and Sweden. Her images are created with both traditional and experimental approaches primarily in oil, egg tempera and encaustic. Allison has an extensive national exhibition record and is in permanent art collections in Japan and India.