‘Equipoise’ brings Beauchamp-Cooke’s evocative style to the Center
From the Archives
Published March 2, 2025
The Power and Grace of the Horse
In spring 2025, the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center presented Equipoise, a retrospective exhibition featuring the evocative work of Atlanta artist Bonnie Beauchamp-Cooke.
Known for her expressive paintings of horses and landscapes, Beauchamp-Cooke draws inspiration from a lifelong relationship with horses and the land. Her connection to Morgan County runs particularly deep. When she isn't working in her Atlanta studio, she spends time at her family's Goose Creek Farm, riding horses and working cattle.
Equipoise offered visitors an opportunity to experience the distinctive visual language that has made Beauchamp-Cooke's work so compelling, from powerful portraits of horses to atmospheric landscapes shaped by movement, texture, and light.
Capturing a Moment in Motion
For Beauchamp-Cooke, painting a horse begins with observation.
She has described studying horses closely and capturing them in a split-second moment, seeking to convey not only their physical presence but their power, personality, and intensity.
That philosophy comes through in her paintings, where horses appear in moments of movement and stillness. Rather than simply depicting the animal, Beauchamp-Cooke uses gesture, texture, color, and light to communicate the energy of the subject.
A Distinctive Mixed-Media Process
One of the defining characteristics of Beauchamp-Cooke's work is its rich, tactile surface.
She begins many paintings by building multiple layers of mixed media, incorporating materials such as molding paste, paint, paper, and even dirt before working over the surface with acrylic and oil.
The resulting texture gives the paintings a physical depth that echoes the subjects themselves. In her horse paintings, that dimensional quality helps convey movement and muscle, while in her landscapes it captures the shifting quality of light and atmosphere.
An Artist Rooted in Georgia
Beauchamp-Cooke studied painting and drawing at the University of Georgia and the Atlanta College of Art, earning her BFA in 1991. Her classmates at the Atlanta College of Art included artists such as Radcliffe Bailey, Kara Walker, Carolyn Carr, and Todd Murphy.
Her work has been featured in publications including Veranda, Southwest Magazine, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, Simply Buckhead, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She has also contributed to Georgia's arts community through her work with organizations including the Hambidge Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia.
Her longstanding connection to Georgia's artistic and agricultural communities gives her work a particularly strong sense of place.
Equipoise at the Cultural Center
The Equipoise exhibition was presented in Galleries One and Two at the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center from March 1 through April 30, 2025. The exhibition opened with a public reception on March 1.
The exhibition was made possible through the generous support of Harrison Design, Main Street Vet, and Madison Grace.
“I study the horses and then paint them from a split-second moment in time, in this manner I believe I can best capture the power, personality, thoughts and intensity of the animal that has both fascinated and served man from our earliest history.”
Bonnie Beauchamp, Artist
This exhibition has concluded.
Equipoise was on view at the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center in spring 2025.
Interested in seeing what's currently on view?
