Baltimore-based artist, educator and entrepreneur Betty Cooke died on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, four months after reaching her 100th birthday. News of Cooke’s passing was shared by Cecilia M. McCormick, president of the Maryland Institute College of Art, in a letter sent today to the MICA Community.
“It is with profound sadness that I write to inform you of the passing of one of our most distinguished alumni, Betty Cooke ’46, H’14,” McCormick wrote. “She passed away peacefully on August 13 and we extend our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones while also honoring her remarkable memory and legacy.
“When attempting to describe Betty, the term ‘tour-de-force’ comes to mind,” McCormick wrote. “She was a creative, driven, and extremely forward-thinking artist who earned her place as a seminal figure in American Modernist studio jewelry. Through all her success, she never lost touch with MICA, as she and her late husband, William Steinmetz, remained prominent and supportive individuals for the College and its students throughout their lives. There will truly never be another person quite like Betty Cooke.”
Cooke was born in Baltimore on May 5, 1924 and grew up in the city’s Walbrook neighborhood. After graduating from Western High School, she studied at the Maryland Institute in a joint program with the Johns Hopkins University, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She then taught at MICA for 22 years.
Cooke met Steinmetz, who died in 2016, in one of her classes at MICA. He was a military veteran taking classes, and she was his teacher. They each had a small rowhouse on Tyson Street and began dating. After marrying in 1955, they formed a partnership, Cooke & Steinmetz Designers and Consultants. Their projects ranged from art to graphic design to interior design, including 26 Fair Lanes bowling centers around the country.
In 1965, Cooke and Steinmetz founded The Store Ltd. and opened it in The Village of Cross Keys at 5100 Falls Road. It was one of the first businesses to open there and is still open in the same spot. One of Cooke’s many clients was Cross Keys developer James Rouse, who commissioned her to design pieces of jewelry for his wife, Patty, over a span of 20 years to mark various birthdays and anniversaries. She also designed posters, Christmas cards and other items for Rouse. Another piece that he commissioned was a map of Baltimore, made of silver and bronze, that he hung in his office.
Cooke and Steinmetz had one son, Daniel, who died in 1982. She lived independently in her longtime home in Riderwood and continued to commute to her store and create jewelry until she died.
“My garden falls apart,” Cooke said in an interview that ran in Baltimore Fishbowl in March of 2023. “My store is my garden.” Another one of her sayings: “Good design is timeless.”
In 2021, the Walters Art Museum opened a retrospective on Cooke, entitled “Betty Cooke: The Circle & the Line.” In addition to private collections worldwide, her work is featured in collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Cooper Hewitt, the Cranbrook Art Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and the Walters.
McCormick said MICA is working with Cooke’s family to host a celebration of the artist’s life.
“Once we have more information, we will share it with our entire community and we hope each of you will join us in celebrating Betty’s life,” she wrote. “Until then, please accompany us in mourning such a tremendous loss.”
Who in Baltimore did not want to own a piece of Betty Cooke jewelry? One could spot her work across any crowded cocktail party. To possess a piece was like belonging to a club.
I live in California now and my Betty Cooke jewelry is still attention getting.