Melanie Cooper Pennington

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Melanie Cooper Pennington is an interdisciplinary artist living in Bloomington, IN, where she teaches as a Lecturer in Sculpture at Indiana University. In her work she creates mammalian sculptures to investigate the borders between the human/animal body and its psychological states. 

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This fall Melanie became the first female artist to commemorate a historical figure on the campus of IU Bloomington. "When it's warm outside, do you prefer to sleep in the nude?" is a participatory bronze and acrylic sculpture commemorating Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey, commissioned by the Kinsey Institute. 

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Pennington's recent solo exhibitions include; Climb in and Back Out Again at New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art (New Harmony, IN) and Humanimals in Precarious Positions at Artlink Contemporary (Fort Wayne, IN). She was featured in group shows at sUgAr Gallery at the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, AR), The In Art Gallery (Fayetteville, AR), Indiana University East (Richmond, IN), ACRE Projects (Chicago, IL), and Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati, OH). She has presented public art projects at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), Calumet Park (Chicago, IL), and Indianapolis Art Center (Indianapolis, IN). She has participated in residencies at the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), ACRE Residency (Steuben, WI), Haystack Mountain School of Craft (Deer Island, ME), and Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass Village, CO).