Coco Allred
Name some artists that have influenced you: My students, bowerbirds, and my friends that share time with me in the studio. I also love the work of Hilma af Klint, Ann Hamilton, Laura Owens, Sarah Sze, Martin Puryear, Anne Albers, Henri Matisse, Francis Alys, Ulrike Laderman Ukles, Andrea Zittel, Donald Judd.
Share an artistic accomplishment you are proud of: Bringing my local community together and sharing a love of public parks through a free workshop series called Drawing Herd. I would love to see you at a class this summer!
Why do you teach art? Art is a powerful tool that teaches us to think critically, observe intentionally, imagine boldly, and connect deeply. Making art can help us discover our unique gifts and stories, how we fit into the world, and how we might make it a better place. I believe in young people and want to empower them to not just inherit the future, but design it.
Coco Allred is a visual artist, designer, and educator based in Seattle, Washington. She works in a range of media including sculpture, printmaking, and collaborative public projects. Focused on creating alternative spaces for learning and convening, she created Drawing Herd, a mobile installation and site-specific workshop series in Washington State, and collaborated on a pop-up art gallery for a K-8 school in Jersey City. In 2023, she was a resident at Fabrica, in Treviso, Italy. She has spent time as an apprentice at the Fabric Workshop Museum in Philadelphia, PA, and was a Work Trade Residency at A-Z West in Joshua Tree, CA. Her work has received support from various cities in King County, foundations, and recently as an inaugural Leading with Creativity grant from Anthropologie. She is a member of the collective, Post-Novis. Coco has a BFA program at Carnegie Mellon University with a concentration in Sculpture, and a minor in Human-Computer Interaction.