HARRIS HOUSE FINE ART

238 St. Anthony St., Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

is pleased to present a retrospective exhibition of paintings by

 

 

Charles A. Couper

 

Meet Charles at the

Opening Reception

Friday, August 21st from 3pm until 7pm

Exhibition continues daily until September 8th

*Please contact the gallery for information on purchasing or seeing more of Charles Couper’s art.

 

 

                                                  

 

 

     “While it is hoped that the exhibition will be self explanatory, I would like viewers to know that my attempt at a poetic interpretation of nature would not have been possible without a basic representational training and sense that painting images provoked by the muse were worth the adversity entailed in living the art life.

     I, personally, have been impressed by the words of Rockwell Kent, the premier North American illustrator of the 1950s who painted winter scenes of Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

     ‘I would like to see the promotion of a culture that encouraged a visual art that people liked. Start people liking’, he said, ‘and tastes will grow.’

 

     A simple destination of art is that it is truth intensified or perhaps that it is spirit shining through matter. Any student of history knows that swimming against the tide of contemporary status-seeking in the visual arts is not likely to win one many accolades or rewards.

     One chooses a direction and learns to live with the consequences.”

                                                                                                                        —Charles A. Couper 

 

 

                                                                                               

 

Works on Display

 

 

        

Autumn Eyes                                                 Dreamscape

 

                                

                                  Beach Bricks and Bottles                                       Potpourri                                    Variations Violet and Red

 

 

           

                                                Romantic                                                Copper and Blue

 

 

           

                                          The Sea Beyond                                             The Romance of Painting

 

 

                    

                                  Nova Scotia Gifts                          Still Life on the River            Still Life with Autumn Sky

 

 

                              

           

                                                      Homage to the Acadians                                Emerging Winter

 

 

 

                                               

                               Still Life with Indian Scarf             Copper and Oranges                         Arizona Outback

                             

 

 

         

                                                     Decoy and Bottle                             Buoys and Beach Sticks

 

 

 

About Charles Couper

 

     A Canadian citizen since 1987, Charles Alexander Couper is a native of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

 

     Charles received his initial training as a student of Fine Art at vesper George School of Art in Boston, Massachusetts and subsequently taught there for fifteen years. While attending classes at Vesper George in winters, summers were spent studying with Henry Hensche at the Cape Cod School of Art where the principles of colour perception and application as formulated by Charles Hawthorne were taught. Charles also took courses in the craft of painting at the Joseph Butera School of Art in Boston and finally became a private student of the late, much esteemed Boston painter, Ernest L. Major who was a permanent resident painter of the IPSWICH Studios. Charles taught for three years at the Swain School of Design in New Bedford, Massachusetts and eventually conducted August Painting Workshops in Bear River, Nova Scotia for nine

years.

 

 

 

     Still Life is Charles’ forte and major preoccupation. He attempts to widen its parameters through expanding his subject matter into areas not frequently explored. Charles believes that any truly valuable innovation is likely to emerge from painters well steeped in tradition, believing that in order to go forward, one must know where one has been.

 

     Charles recently received publication of a four page review of his working procedures and painting philosophy, with colour reproductions in International Pastel Artist magazine, representing Canada. He has also a three page article with colour reproductions in the book The Best Canadian Pastels. A third publication—also in hardback—Studio Rally’s Art and Craft of Nova Scotia contains an interview with Charles, and colour reproductions of his work.

 

     Charles has instructed, exhibited and painted in cities from Mexico to Canada and promoted visual arts as a universal language. His home and studio are in Bear River, Nova Scotia, Canada.

 

 

            

 

 

 

Selected Public Collections

 

American Museum Photo Archives, Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C.

 

Biblioteca Publico, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

 

Elizabeth T. Greenshields Museum, Montreal, Quebec

 

Heritag Museum, Provincetown, Massachusetts

 

McCleery-Cumming Corporation, Washington, Iowa

 

Seamens Bank, Provincetown, Massachusetts

 

Cape Museum of Fine Art, Dennis, Massachusetts

 

Linear Dimensions, Chicago, Illinois

 

 

Awards

 

Gloria Layton Memorial Allied Artists of America, New York, New York

 

The Elizabeth T. Greenshields Foundations Grant, Montreal, Quebec

 

Medal of Distinction, 11th Grand Prix, International, Cannes, France

 

Award of Distinction, Pastel Society of Canada

 

Two First Jury Awards, Cape Cod Art Association, Hyannis, Massachusetts

 

First Jury Award, Pastel Society of Canada

 

 

Teaching Resume

 

Vesper George School of Art, Boston Massachusetts — fifteen years

 

Attleboro Museum, Attelboro, Massachusetts — three years

 

Private August Painting Workshops, Bear River, Nova Scotia — nine years

 

Swain School of Design, New Bedford, Massachusetts — three years

 

Bearcroft Studio, Attelboro, Massachusetts — ten years

 

 

More selected works for this exhibition will be added to this sight in the near future.

Please check back frequently.

 

 

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