Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystalle Lacouture.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’m a painter based outside Boston and in the Berkshires. I make large abstract oil paintings referencing nature, music, and landscapes, both real and imagined. I received my degree in Painting/Printmaking from Skidmore College and then moved to Brooklyn, NY where I lived for 10 years, making art and working for the political/feminist artists Leon Golub and Nancy Spero and the installation artist Phoebe Washburn. I also worked at the Lower East Side Printshop and at College Art Association before moving back to the Boston area where both my husband and I were raised. We had a 2-year-old daughter at the time and found that the reasons for living in the city were falling away as we transitioned to parenthood. I wanted a garden, proximity to family, cleaner air for our kids, and a permanent/private studio. We now have three kids and as they’ve reached school age I’ve begun reclaiming my career. I have a full-time studio practice again and a side gig as co-Director of Art Programming at Tourists Hotel in North Adams, MA.
Please tell us about your art.
My work is about landscapes and feelings about landscapes. I find inspiration in textiles, words, music, and the changing shapes and colors of nature. My paintings investigate huge things reduced to microcosms and small things blown up for closer inspection.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
Space and time. I’m fortunate to finally have a studio in the old barn behind my house. In fact, I can look into the windows of the studio from my kitchen and continue mentally figuring out the paintings that I have in process. It allows me to keep one eye on the work from varying distances and to think about it while I move around my house. Also, the proximity allows for night work. There are no subway stops or commute. I put the kids to bed and head back out to the studio for my night shift.
Regarding time, there’s never enough. I’m really lucky that painting is my job and I don’t have to hustle anymore in an office all week only to arrive at “my” work/studio feeling depleted and resentful of the impossible system. I’ve been there. It isn’t easy but if you want to be an artist you have to power through and keep making work even if it’s not good. For me the learning and the developing has always come from the doing and trying.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My most current studio happenings can be seen on Instagram @crystallelacouture. That’s really where it’s at for me now because it’s casual and spontaneous. I don’t have to set up a tripod or lights. It’s like an idea sounding board. And my website crystallelacouture.com where I post about exhibitions and events.
Contact Info:
- Website: crystallelacouture.com
- Email: crystallel@mac.com
- Instagram: @crystallelacouture
Image Credit:
Artist Portraits, Christina Van Dyke.
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