Spark Artist

Photography, sculpture & drawing

Working across photography, drawing, sculpture and video, Renee Couture’s interdisciplinary, project-based practice addresses postpartum mental health, change, time and self-compassion. By centering herself, using everyday objects and repetitive mark-making and color, she shares her reality—both her emotional landscape and daily life—as a mother. She leans into intuition, sentimentality and self-care to make sense of, reflect upon and share her experiences. Couture's work has been exhibited nationally, including at Eastern Oregon University, SOIL, Tiger Strikes Asteroid Gallery, Whatcom Museum and Kinhouse Gallery. She has received an Individual Artist Fellowship and four Career Opportunity Grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, and four project grants from the Douglas County Cultural Coalition. Couture has been granted residencies at Ucross Foundation, Djerassi Residency Artist Program, Jentel Foundation, PLAYA, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Pine Meadow Ranch and The Studios at MASS MoCA. Couture graduated from Buena Vista University with a BA in Studio Art and Spanish, and earned her MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College of Fine Arts (a CalArts affiliate). She is a project manager with the Percent for Art in Public Places program managed by the Oregon Arts Commission, and is a member of Carnation Contemporary, an artist-run gallery in Portland, Oregon. Currently, Couture lives on seven acres in rural southern Oregon with her husband, young daughter and cat. She works out of a retrofitted 20-foot camper-turned-studio space in her garden.