Catherine Courtenaye earned an MFA in Painting/Drawing from the University of Iowa and a BA in English Literature from Colby College. Her work is included in the permanent collections of Boise Art Museum; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; the Oakland Museum of California; Tucson Museum of Art; Whitney Western Art Museum, Cody, Wyoming; and the Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Award, her works are exhibited at Stremmel Gallery, Reno; Michelle Bello Fine Art, San Francisco, and Echo Arts, Bozeman, Montana. Courtenaye is a recipient of a Montana Arts Council Artist Innovation Award in 2018, and in 2015 was a TEDx speaker at University of Montana. Born in Madrid, Spain, she grew up in a Foreign Service family, and currently lives and works in Bozeman.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS (solo unless otherwise noted)

What the Nighthawk Knows, Echo Arts, Bozeman, Montana, 2023

Avian Witness, Gallatin River Gallery, Big Sky, Montana, 2020 (catalogue)

New Works: Shauna Moore + Catherine Courtenaye (two-person), Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, Colorado, 2016

Echo: Unspoken Dialects (four-person), Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana, 2016

Read Between the Lines, Gallatin River Gallery, Big Sky, Montana, 2014

Recent Paintings, Modernism, Inc.,  San Francisco, 2012

Catherine Courtenaye: Paintings, Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho, 2011 (catalogue)

New Work, Modernism, San Francisco, 2009

Cheryl Pelavin Fine Arts, New York, 2009 (two-person)

Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2008

Stremmel Gallery, Reno, Nevada, 2007

Ghostwriters, Cheryl Pelavin Fine Arts, New York, 2007

Bentley Projects, Phoenix, Arizona, 2005

Stremmel Gallery, Reno, Nevada, 2004 (catalogue)

Sampler, Latham Square Building, organized by the Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, 2002

Hunsaker/Schlesinger Fine Art, Santa Monica, California, 2000

Shaker Museum, South Union, Kentucky, 2000

The Colors of the Soul: Paintings of Shaker Objects, Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, Washington, 1997

Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California, 1992

Bank of America World Headquarters, San Francisco, 1990

Kouros Gallery, New York, 1989

Iannetti-Lanzone Gallery, San Francisco, California, 1988

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Altered States, Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, Telluride, Colorado, 2021

Earth and Sky, Gallatin River Gallery, Big Sky, Montana, 2018

ArtMiami Art Fair, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, 2018

Boundless Visions, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana, 2018

Montana Triennial 2018, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana, 2018

White, Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, Telluride, Colorado, 2014

The Animal in Contemporary Art II, Stremmel Gallery, Reno, 2013

ArtMiami 2010

Inscribere, Chandra Cerrrito Contemporary, Oakland, California, 2007

Cali/Graffi, San Francisco State University Fine Arts Gallery, A California Calligraphy Summit, 2006

Anne Reed Gallery, Sun Valley, Idaho, 2006

Contemporarities, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawai’i, 2006

Handpicked, Michelle Bello Fine Art, San Francisco, 2003

30 Years/30 Artists, Stremmel Gallery, Reno, Nevada, 2003

Solos: The Contemporary Monoprint, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, California, 2002

Abstraction: From Raucous to Refined, Bedford Gallery, Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, California, 2000

An Argument for Drawing, Art Museum of Missoula, 2000

Jeffrey Coploff Gallery, New York, New York, 1999

Pharmacopoeia, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco,1998

Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica, California, 1996

Asher/Faure Gallery, Los Angeles, 1991

Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon, 1991

Art: The Other Industry, Emeryville, California; John Caldwell, juror, 1990

Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, 1990

The Fourth International LA Art Fair, Los Angeles,1989

Bay Area Drawing, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California, 1987

ProArts Annual, Oakland, California; David Ireland, juror, 1987

Art: The Other Industry, Emeryville, California; Sidra Stich, curator, 1987

AWARDS AND HONORS

Artists Innovation Award 2017, Montana Arts Council 2017

TEDx speaker, University of Montana, February 2015

National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Grant, 1989

Ford Foundation Grants, 1982, 1983, 1984

Phi Beta Kappa, 1979

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Bank of America

Boise Art Museum

City of Reno, Nevada

City of Walnut Creek, California

Crocker Art Museum

Farhat Art Museum, Beirut, Lebanon

Farmers and Merchants Bank, California

Folger, Levin & Kahn, LLP, San Francisco

Frontier Adjusters of America, Phoenix

Hyatt Hotels

Lehman Brothers

The Oakland Museum of California

Oracle

National Endowment for the Arts Loan Collection

Matsushita Investment & Development Co., Osaka, Japan

Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, LLP, San Francisco

Renown Health Center, Nevada

Sempra Energy, San Diego

Silk, Adler & Colvin, LLP, San Francisco

Tucson Museum of Art

Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana

Westin Verasa Hotel, Napa

Whitney Western Art Museum, Cody, Wyoming

EDUCATION

University of Iowa, Iowa City, M.F.A. in painting and drawing, 1984

University of Iowa, Iowa City, M.A. in painting and drawing, 1983

Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, 1980

Colby College, Waterville, Maine, B.A. magna cum laude in English, 1979

University of Bath, England, 1977

American School of Tangier, Morocco, 1973–1975

RESIDENCIES

Experimental Workshop, monotypes, Emeryville, California 2001

Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, Wyoming, 1991

Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, 1985

TEACHING

Montana State University, Bozeman, Guest Artist, 2010

San Jose State University, Guest Artist, 2010

Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, Guest Artist, 2000

California College of Art, San Francisco, Panelist, “Drawing as a Major Medium of Expression,” 1999

Southern Oregon State University, Ashland, Guest Artist, 1999

Southern Oregon State University, Ashland, Instructor (full time), 1993

California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, Guest Artist, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2000, 2002

Emeryville Youth Art Program, Emeryville, California, Instructor, 1985–86

Dominican College, San Rafael, California, Guest Artist, 1985

University of Iowa, Graduate Teaching Assistant in painting, 1982–84

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS

Deloitte LLP, Conference and Learning Center, Westlake, Texas, two 44 x 68-inch paintings, 2011.

Art in Public Places, City of Emeryville, California, Bus Shelter Temporary Art Program, four posters, 2010.

Renown Health, Nevada, fifteen 18 x 18-inch panels in the Tahoe Tower lobby, Reno.

Farmers and Merchants Bank, Lodi, California, one 84 x 60-inch painting.