BIOGRAPHY
Myra's parents chose her in 1962 before her first birthday, to join their family of three biological white boys, one Black girl, and a few years later, another Black boy. Myra's family's decision to live off the land meant they milked goats, raised chickens, and froze and canned fruits and vegetables. She played with her father's landscaping and carpentry tools as a child. Her family built the interior of their home. Myra's adoptive family had the perfect home to both nurture and inform her artistic passion organically. For example, Myra's mother always told her she could create anything she wanted with what she had before her by opening her mind. A tool can be anything! This is an ethos that has guided Myra's artistic practice since childhood.
Myra Kooy has been making art, transforming everyday events into elaborate stories and environmental installations. She called forts. Her art spills into every area of her life. Her clothing, accessories, and every corner of her home are artistic stories. As a result, she embraced the terms "Liveable, and Wearable Art." Her "Wearable and Liveable" works of art have traveled across the States to all the major cities, including LA, San Diego, San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago, Maryland, New Jersey, New York City, Boston, Pennsylvania, Detroit, Georgia, and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Living in New Jersey, Myra began building her multidisciplinary fine art practice. She developed as an artist with the support she needed to lay her fine craft art down. Myra used the wood that embellished her craftwork to make large mobiles and assemblages, satisfying a long-held desire. She had exhibitions in Center City Gallery, River Winds Gallery, and the Brooklyn Waterfront Coalition. Once back in Brooklyn, she made relationships with local businesses to curate multiple shows. As a Park Slope Trustee, she hosted a silent auction to support grants for high school students. Myra has made murals for local businesses and individual residents. Myra has also shown work with Trestle Gallery, Alfred Van Loen Gallery, Ground Floor Gallery, Belskie Museum, St. John's College Gallery, Five Myles Gallery, and her work is in the book, Brooklyn on My Mind, from the WPA to Today, by Dr. Myrah Brown Green.
In 2021, Myra finished her Master of Fine Arts at City College in Harlem, New York. At this point, Myra moved to Cape Cod. She completed multiple residencies at Edgewood Farm -Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, where she developed her radiant light sanctuary installation. This project merged Myra's training in breath and meditation work as well as her yoga training with her vision for creating an environment that is both peaceful and stimulating at the same time. She envisions this space as being at the border of a dream, at a calm enough state that you can travel beyond everyday stimuli to free oneself. Her recent training in sound bath work adds to this exploration and space-making. She enjoys engaging in this work in collaboration with various artists and performers.
Myra and her partner Kate now run a gallery, Radiance Art, in Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA.