The Proper Gentleman

     Hilarie Couture has been drawing since the age of two, but after a hiatus of 43 years, has only recently been able to concentrate on her art full time.   All of her life experiences have translated to her canvases as she is self- taught but attends workshops from many artists she admires.  Within the past year, she founded the Premiere Pastel Society of Indiana based in Fort Wayne,  a 501 c-3 non profit pastel painters association created to educate the members and the public about soft pastel as a fine art medium.    

     Hilarie is represented by  3M Fine Arts and Gallery 02 on Broadway , in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Attic Gallery, Camas, Washington.     She has had solo shows, has participated in various local and national group shows and in 2016, had curated her own travelling show in Vancouver Washington called” Founding Mothers Portraits of Progress”, painting 55 portraits of women in her community who made contributions in an effort to honor them.   This show exhibited throughout the city for almost two years at numerous venues as a community outreach and at the Historic Museum and the Fort Vancouver Gallery as a tribute to these remarkable women during Women’s History month.   Later, Hilarie wrote a book to document the project and more information about this is on her website, www.hcouturearts.com.

      She recently created a project highlighting the diversity in Fort Wayne called “Unity with Variety”,  an art  show featuring people in the Fort Wayne area, representing various cultures and backgrounds.  This was a community outreach and lead to various programs, panel discussions and exhibits that cycled the region for over a year after its’ debut at the Jeffery Krull gallery in Fort Wayne.  It included an opening reception with the unveiling of 52 paintings where the subjects and the public witnessed it together for the first time.  She also wrote  an exhibition  book to document this project with an audio component. In May, 2024  she had another  solo show at the Jeffery Krull Gallery called, “A DAY IN THE LIFE” , showcasing scenes from daily life in and around her community.

     Hilarie has been a guest judge for different art group competitions, such as The Gateway International Show on line.   She has also been a judge at Lakeland Art Center for their regional show.   Another recent achievement was being published in a prestigious French art magazine “Pratique Des Art” Issue #53 with a  six page article about  her portraiture work.   The current winter issue of Pastel Journal Magazine has also just featured Hilarie through her pastel portrait work, highlighting some of the Unity with Variety paintings along with other works.

      She has won numerous  national and local awards for her paintings and is a member of the American Impressionists Society,  also member of the International Pastel Society and Pastel Society of America. She was a signature member of the Northwest Pastel Society, also a member  member of the Northern Indiana Pastel Society and the past Vice President of the Fort Wayne Artist Guild.

      Hilarie believes in giving back and sharing what she has learned to help other artists.  She teaches workshops in her studio and elsewhere and is a popular instructor for various art guilds, retirement facilities, community colleges.  etc.  teaching specialized workshops.  She believes that art education is important especially at an early age and has taught art history and practical application of art principles to homeschool children on a weekly basis.   She is also an adjunct professor at St. Francis Unitversity ,teaching beginning oil painting.  Besides painting her romantic narratives, Hilarie offers portrait and other commissions at her studio/gallery in Fort Wayne, Indiana, or on location.  She also creates wedding and special event paintings attending the venues to paint live as an option.  She is happy to open her studio to anyone who may be interested in purchasing her many works that include portraits, landscapes, still lifes etc.