A n I l l u s t r a t e d B i o g r a p h y

C h r i s t i n C o u t u r e

circa 1963

hristin Couture was born and raised in Western Massachusetts . She attended l'Ecole St. Jeanne d'Arc, was taught by nuns, and began to draw. At the age of eleven, she moved with her family to a house in the country on fifty acres of woods. She was given her first box of paints and an easel made by her father. Since the family property bordered the State School, she became fascinated by the patients, who sometimes wandered along the paths in their pajamas when she was out horseback riding. She later drew upon these images in a series called "The Wanderers". From the top of her hill she could see the outline of the Holyoke Range -an image she would paint often- which became reversed when she began her adult life in Amherst, on the other side of the mountains.

circa 1968

circa 1972

he studied at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and received a BFA in painting in 1974. Her thesis exhibition ,"KINDERHAUS", featured a constructed environment of paintings of children in the center of the gallery, the culmination of independent study with Colombian painter, LeonelGongora. During the summmerof 1972 she studied art history in Bologna, Italy and also made an excursion to Paris on her 21st Birthday to see a major show of Surrealism. The following summer she lived in New York City, took classes at the Art Students' League, and became friends with Leonora Carrington. In 1974-75 she attended an experimental graduate program at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and created a new body of paintings: large grey babies based on Victorian photography.

circa 1975

circa 1978

er first one person exhibition in New York was in 1978 and featured black and white drawings of children that dealt with the dichotomy of good and evil. The show received many good reviews as well as the admiration of George Tooker and Saul Steinberg. But best of all, it was sold out to Monique Knowlton, whose gallery represented Couture in the US, and included her in many group exhibitions around the country. In 1980 she received a MacDowell Colony fellowship and began her 'PREDELLA' series of paintings of interiors with cut-away views inspired by the Italian Renaissance. Later that year she moved with her standard poodle, Papagano, to the East Village in NYC and became part of an exciting, active and growing art community for the next 12 years.

circa 1980

circa 1983

or many years Couture had visited Mexico, enchanted by the color, the people she met, and the power of its history. In 1983 Couture made her fourth trip to Mexico City, this time to paint for several months in Coyoacan, and to have her first one-person show at Galeria Arvil, who represented her work in Latin America. In 1988 she had her second show at Galeria Arvil and worked in a studio in the Colonia Roma for several months. With the help of friends, she aquired a small penthouse apartment nearby- a former maid's quarters - in the historic Edificio Vizcaya .

circa 1988

circa 1990

hen Couture returned to NYC in 1988 she turned her attention to illustration. She began contributing drawings to the New York Times Book Review, and Magazine, as well as painting book covers for authors such as Margaret Atwood, and Francine Prose. In 1989 she was invited to be an artist in residence at Fondation Karolyi in Vence, France. She wrote and illustrated two Children's books, THE HOUSE ON THE HILL and A WALK IN THE WOODS that were published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 1991 and 1993. She has continued to design and illustrate

for print media, including CD covers, and most recently, for the Alumni magazine at U.Mass.

circa 1992

n 1992 she went back to New England for the summer with her ancient poodle, looking for a place away from the city. While visiting Shelburne Falls, she found an ideal live/ work studio in the cafeteria of an old school building, nicknamed 'The Buckland Ritz', and decided to stay. Couture became involved with the founding of a new community art center and school, called the Art Bank, where she organized many successful events, projects and exhibitions. During this period she also pursued her interest in 3 dimensional objects and began to create TIMEpieces.

circa 1994

She has also continued to paint .

circa 1996

In the spring of 1997 she met sculptor William Hosie at an evening lecture. They exchanged
studio visits and candelight dinners, and three years later were married . For their Honeymoon
they went to "Las Pozas" , the fantasy gardens created by Edward James in the jungles of Mexico.

outure and Hosie are currently working on Rosehall, and planning new art projects that encorporate their respective approaches to visual ideas. They share a lifelong committment

to being artists - wherever that might take them.

circa 1997

circa 1998

"Everything is related to everything else

and everything is in process of becoming

everything else in every way." -W H

They live in the Pioneer Valley, the East Village, and Tenochtitlan, and are members of

PROJECTS VITAE REVIEWS PAINTINGS