Bigfork artist Dee Dee Cooper enjoys donating her time and work to local causes

Parked outside the Bigfork Cultural center is a small wooden train, marked Bigfork Express. 

The conductor towers over it, pointing up to Santa on the roof. 

The new Christmas installment, commissioned by the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce, is the work of local artist Dee Dee Cooper.

Outside the museum isn’t the only place around Bigfork her work can be seen right now. One of her murals is also prominent on the side of Harvest Foods.

Cooper has been painting professionally for about 20 years and is largely self-taught. She does a lot of murals in homes but her work varies depending on the requests from clients.

Though she does no advertising Bigfork has been keeping Cooper busy. 

“I have great friends that spread the word, and I’m grateful to them because that’s how it happens,” Cooper said. “Lately people have been asking for a lot of stuff, which is great. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Besides being the president of the board for the Bigfork Museum of Art and History, where she chaired the Festival of Trees, Christmas commissions have kept Cooper busy.

Besides doing commissions she also does a fair amount of free work she donates to local organizations, such as the volunteer fire department, for fundraisers.

“I try to donate to those guys every year, and various other people,” she said. She will also donate her work to sick or poor children and paint their bedrooms.

“I like working with people on projects that are pretty much a gift or donation of some sort,” she said. “Working with those types of people, they’re there because they want to be there. And there’s no pressure, so it turns out to be more fun because there’s less stress.”

Before moving to Bigfork, Cooper and her husband were based in California. The conductor outside the museum is modeled after her husband.

The subject of Cooper’s work changes often. Over the winter she hopes to paint a series of Glacier National Park scenes. She has also been getting into to wanimal portraits.

“I have two beautiful dogs myself and I love to paint them,” Cooper said.