Barbara Coppock: A story etched in time and art

Behind every artist, there is a story, which chronicles the journey, influences and challenges that shaped the individual.

In the case of Lakeside artist Barbara Coppock, who has made a name for herself in the world of etchings, the story — though known to only a few — nearly outshines the art it has inspired.

Like many artists, Coppock developed a love for art as a small child. From the time she could hold a pencil, she had already begun to draw. Growing up in Okanogan, in north-central Washington, she found herself doodling in school and whenever she had occasion to do so.

Desiring to expand her talents, she began to read, teaching herself to use many types of media, such as watercolor, pastels, oils and acrylics, and pen and ink. She even invented her own style, painting with pastels and then using pen and ink to bring out detail.

"If you want to learn something, it's out there," Coppock said. "You can learn just about anything from books. You just have to dig for it. There's really nothing preventing someone from learning if they want it badly enough.

"I'm just driven, when it comes to art. If I want to learn something, I just do it until I can do it well. Because of that, I have a pretty good handle on all of the medias."

Photography became the foundation for most of Coppock's art, and continues to play a major part in her work. Fortunately, she was able to use her father's darkroom when she was young and through ongoing experimentation learned to see and photograph scenes from multiple angles, a skill she feels has made her a better artist.

As an adult, Coppock chose to focus on her family. From age 20 to 40, she poured herself into her family during the day and worked on art in the quiet hours, when everyone else was asleep. This arrangement was essential, because she believed that, whatever she did, she had to give it 100 percent and be fully committed to it.

At age 30, she became involved in 4-H, where she led two separate groups—one with an emphasis on horses and one that focused on community and leadership—to whom she taught photography and assigned various photo projects. Eventually, her husband Bill also became involved in 4-H and the two of them did 4-H camps together during the summer.

The camps gave Barbara the opportunity to teach arts and crafts, but she longed to pursue her art more seriously and decided that she would do so once her son — the youngest of her two children — graduated from high school. Until then, she had neither the time nor the energy to give herself to her art the way she truly wanted to do.

She had given the matter a great deal of thought and decided to get into etching, since not many artists were using that media. She even ordered a small press to get her started.

She had been a 4-H leader for ten years, when her son graduated, and by that time she was ready to step back. When Bill told her that he no longer wanted to do the camps, she told him she too was ready to step down and give the reigns to someone else. Even so, Bill agreed to do one more camp, giving the 4-H program another year to groom a replacement.

On his way back from that last camp, Bill fell asleep at the wheel and wrecked his vehicle. His leg was crushed in the accident, as was one of his vertebrae. In addition, his heart had suffered an aortic tear. To compound the severity of his injuries, he was paralyzed during surgery.

"In everyone's life, there is one moment—a split second that changes everything," Barb said. "Bill's accident was that defining moment, in my life. I left home in August with nothing but a toothbrush and didn't get back home until the end of January. Bill spent one year in Harbor View, in Seattle and was in trauma care for the first three months.

"I didn't get home, full-time until the next August. And when I got home, there was the press, still in the box. I opened it up and took it out. I got a mitre saw from my dad, who was a framer, and Bill started making frames."

It was at that point that Barbara knew she wanted to do her art full-time and trust that the press would support them. She had taught herself to use other media; now she would learn to use the etching press, by making hundreds of 2x4 etchings.

Deciding to focus on Montana subjects, she started turning out as many as she could and then sent them with a friend to the C.M. Russell auction in Great Falls. In short order, he sold everything she had sent with him.

That meant that she could, indeed, make a living at it. So, she picked about six galleries in Montana and began selling her work. Her work sold well, and she used whatever profit she made to upgrade her equipment and expand her business.

"Self-taught is the key word," Barbara said. "I love art history, and so I studied the European masters and etching. It took me five years to get good, and I'm still learning."

By 1990, Barb had earned enough of a reputation for her work that she had to turn galleries down. By that point, she was selling about 1,000 etchings per year. Some galleries were even selling pieces before she made them, giving her a constant source of work and income.

At last, she was ready to help her husband fulfill his longtime dream of retiring in the Flathead Valley. They purchased land in Lakeside, in 1992 and built a handicap-accessible home, where they have been living their dream for 16 years.

And, while Bill's love for the Flathead has not diminished during that time, his health and productivity has. Because of that, Barbara's productivity has also slowed considerably. However, her love and commitment to her husband has grown steadily stronger, as she endeavors to give him the highest quality of life she can give him, in a valley and community that has become their home. That community, Barbara said, has embraced and supported them every step of the way.

Although she has dropped from 25 galleries to four as the financial climate of the nation becomes less and less favorable to art sales, Barbara says she is not done.

"I'll always do etching," she said. "I just won't work on it as hard as I once did. I guess you could say it's the difference between running a truck garden and having a flowerbed. I've slowed down, but I continue to do some original work just for my own soul."

Likely, she said, she will turn her focus, once again, to oils, pen and ink and water color in the hope of finding a new market. But there will always be a sort of romance between her and the art of etching.

"That's what got us here," she said. "I've seen a lot of people with talent who either don't make it or they explode. Now that I've had that validation, I look around me and wonder, 'What did I do to deserve this?' I made it, and I'm — we're — right where we want to be."