From Detourart.com: Kentucky folk artist Ronald Cooper died in a hospital in Lexington on Saturday, August 18th, 2012. Ronald (1931-2012) and Jessie Cooper became artists by chance in their mid-fifties. Prior to that, their lives had followed a path common for their generation: early marriage, leaving their home-town for better opportunities, raising four children, working a variety of jobs, financial calamity and major health problems.

After a number of years of working in grocery stores and supermarkets in Kentucky and Ohio, the Coopers ran their own country store. When this failed after eight years Ronald was forced to take a job in quality control at a warehouse and Jessie found employment at a nut packaging plant. While em...