Bio

Carol D. KoutnikCarol D. Koutnik's art reflects a lifetime of travel. Papers, pencils and watercolors fill suitcases, in readiness for depiction of changing cultures and landscapes she experiences. "Because of this", Carol explains, "art is my vehicle for understanding and living life in anticipation of sharing my visual adventures with others".

Koutnik was born in Chicago in 1942. Her father's central European heritage of potters and frame guilders merged with her mother's family of practicing artists, all of which served to encourage Carol's own artistic talents. Marrying young, to a public health doctor, Al Koutnik, the couple spent many years, with their growing family of their three children, working in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

Carol's formal education began when Abstract Expressionism was the dominant "ism" of the art world in the United States. Teaching methods focused on handing students a canvas, a big brush and oil paints with the admonition to "Paint!" And that Carol did, with gusto. In the early 80's, while the Koutniks lived in West Germany, her Hungarian teacher questioned "Why do you [Carol] constantly seek out new techniques-without knowing the basics?" This logical question prompted Carol's move to bring her work under control; she has stretched her education into a lifetime of study and practice of "Learn one, do one, teach one."

During several periods of living in Saudi Arabia, Carol learned of living with few material goods and in comparative silence, resulting in her reliance on the spiritual aspect of "being." She explains, "I came to know, understand and to fearlessly reevaluate my feelings about freedom – to dramatically shift from ambivalence to passion."

Strongly influenced by her faith, today Carol's art conveys not only what she sees but what she feels. She draws her viewers into visual poetry of light, color and place. Carol lives on the Gulf Coast of Texas and continues to travel and paint.

 

Selected Recent Activities:

2008 Winter Gardens Exhibit. The Gallery of Rockport, Rockport Texas.
2007, 2008 International Painting Instructor in Guatemala for Explore Guatemala.
2000-2008 Drawing and Painting Instructor at Estelle Stair Gallery, Rockport Center for The Arts, and Studio 201.
2007 Second Printing of Al Baha Sketchbook: A Journal in Saudi Arabia, ISBN 978-09710117-0-0
2007 Guatemala Explorations, Group Exhibition, Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, Texas.
2005 Poster Artist for 36th Annual Art Festival. One Person Exhibition, Rockport Center For the Arts, Rockport, Texas.
2004 Watercolor Art Society Houston International Exhibition. The Continental Center. Houston, Texas.
2002 Texas Watercolor Society National Exhibition. Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, Texas.
2001 Published AL BAHA [Saudi Arabia] SKETCHBOOK by Carol D. Koutnik. Hopkins-St-Claire Press, Corpus Christi, Texas.
2000 Texas Watercolor Society National Exhibition. One Allen Center. Houston, Texas.
1999 Enter the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. One Person Exhibit. Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, Texas.
1998 Watermedia lX International Exhibition. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado
1994-1998 Colorado Watercolor Society State Exhibitions. Colorado History Museum, Denver, Colorado.
1995 Ancient Arabia Today. One Person Exhibit. Joan R. Duncan Galleries. Koelbel Public Library, Littleton, Colorado.
1993 Al Baha Drawings, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. One Person Exhibit. MaGrath Gallery, Bellarmine College, Louisville, Kentucky.

 

Education:

  • Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois.
  • Art Institute of San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas.
  • Blackhawk Mountain School of Art, Blackhawk, Colorado.
  • Private Instruction, Workshops, Tours, World Travel.

 

News Reviews:

The Rockport Pilot, Saturday, May 8, 2004 by Sandra Musgrove: "A quiet peacefulness radiates from her eyes, engulfing her entire person-whether she is laughing, is in quiet contemplation or while she is having an animated conversation. The peacefulness could be drawn from a lifelong deeply-held faith or from her visions of everything within her environs- or from both.--------Respected and admired by peers, Carol and her work are savored by art students and patrons alike. -----Her "logo" developed as "Landscape as Sacrament", drawn from her plein air art and spiritual experiences. Regularly she receives awards from international, national, state and local competitions."

The Herald, Thursday, August 22, 2002 by Abel Meza: "She prefers to paint plein-aire rather than being confined to a studio----This affords her the luxury of interacting with her subjects. This intimacy is evident when you become immersed in the spectrum of color and soft alluring edges of her paintings. Her paintings of palm trees evoke the priceless feeling of waking up from an afternoon nap by the water's edge. Carol's strong background in drawing is refreshing. She draws with her brushes. Her direct style of painting complements the air of spontaneity that runs rampart through her paintings."

Corpus Christi Caller Times, Sunday, March 28, 1999 by Ellen Bernstein: "Early in the morning, when the sunlight is soft and hazy with mist, Carol Koutnik paints at an easel at the Rockport fishing docks. Her brush is quick, her paint translucent, as she captures light reflecting off water in a watercolor seascape. She works in a ball cap, long-sleeved shirt and loose pants, surrounded by the tools of a plein-air painter: Paper, brushes, palette, bug spray. Fishermen and early risers stop to talk. They tell her about their experiences, where they live, what boat they take out.---Later in the morning, tourists walk by, stopping to talk about art, how they paint, their medium, their style. Koutnik welcomes the conversation, always refreshing."

Denver Catholic Register, August 19, 1998: "Koutnik is a plein-air painter who likes to be out amongst them in the city. Street people, tourists, delivery men and women and office workers on their breaks often come to look and talk as Koutnik paints. But she considers the school children to be the best and most enthusiastic critics. For Koutnik, art takes place, really, on these streets. Her paintings are a permanent memory of the exuberance felt while watching the changing light, feeling the Spirit at holy places, and enjoying the interchange with all different peoples."

The Denver Post, Friday April 26, 1996 by Steven Rosen: "With a small group of other watercolor devotees, Koutnik will come downtown at about 6:30 a.m. and set up easels in a parking lot. They'll do quick watercolor studies and take photographs of downtown buildings. She'll then return to her studio to work on more detailed watercolors. "You have to concentrate," she says." You only have about an hour where the light stays the same, especially when it's hitting these windows." Her "At Tremont and Broadway," painting is a result of one of those downtown art expeditions. It shows the sunlight hitting Tremont Place's Museum of Western Art in such a way as to turn it a bright, shiny yellow. Just as glowing and warm looking is the curved corner of the Brown Palace. The scene makes downtown Denver look receptive and quiet as it awaits its daily morning crowds."