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Exploring the Abstraction of Language
Recipient of Artists Innovation Award 2017
The Montana Arts Council is pleased to announce eight Montana artists as recipients of the 2017 Artist’s Innovation Award. The honorees are: visual artists Bently Spang of Billings, Catherine Courtenaye of Bozeman, Stephanie Frostad and Alison Reintjes of Missoula; performing artists Sam Krahn of Great Falls and Joy French of Missoula and literary artists Jennifer Groneberg of Bozeman and Aaron Parrett of Helena.
Telluride Gallery of Fine Art
Telluride Gallery of Fine Art will feature seven paintings by Courtenaye, opening December 15, 2016.
Echo: Unspoken Dialects, Yellowstone Art Museum
Echo: Unspoken Dialects
July 14, 2016–October 2, 2016
Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana
Echo: Unspoken Dialects reveals the intersections between emotion and reason, and between ideas and concrete form. Language as the trail of memory is the focus of this exhibition. Echo features four leading Montana artists who use actual words, the traces of words, or the suggestion of language in their rich and varied works.
Recent works by Catherine Courtenaye, Kate Hunt, Michael Haykin, and Jerry Iverson comprise Echo: Unspoken Dialects. These four distinctive voices in the sea of contemporary Montana art practice employ the complexities of written language in combination with traditional and non-traditional painterly and sculptural forms. These words and non-words “echo” the voices of both past and present. They suggest the human compulsion to communicate, and each artist finds a unique path to discover meaning, joy, and wonder.
TEDx Speaker, University of Montana
The Phenomenon of Line: Language as Imagery
A 15-minute presentation addressing the theme of language in my work.
Crocker Art Museum
The Crocker Art Museum has acquired Cavalcade (2009) for its permanent collection.

Cavalcade, 2008, oil on canvas, 42 x 60 inches
Oakland Museum of California
The Oakland Museum of California has acquired Wilhilmena (2006) for its permanent collection.

Wilhilmena, 2006, oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches
Boise Art Museum
Boise Art Museum has acquired Circumference (2007) for its permanent collection.

Circumference, 2007, oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches
Yellowstone Art Museum
The Yellowstone Art Museum has acquired Phraseology (2007) for its permanent collection.

Phraseology, 2007, oil on canvas, 60 x 84 inches