Kaia Couture works on one of her pieces of art that will be displayed at the gallery.
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EASTHAMPTON — As part of its artist of the month exhibition, rising high school senior Kaia Couture of Belchertown is set to have her art displayed at the Sgt. James G. Wheeler Memorial Art Gallery, 122 Pleasant St., Suite 101, Easthampton.
The opening exhibit and reception for the showing will take place on Saturday, Aug. 10 at 6:30 p.m.
The Warrior’s Art Room, which suggested Couture for the exhibit, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide veterans and their immediate family with a place to create art, materials to create art and with instruction as needed.
They provide veterans and their families with art gallery space to display their art in the Sgt. James G. Wheeler Memorial Art Gallery.
Couture said that multiple family members, including a couple who served in the military, helped guide her to continue pursuing art.
“Art of all forms has been meaningful since childhood, guided by the art kits gifted to me by my uncle and brother in the military. Each piece I create, whether abstract, whimsical or detailed, reflects my passion for capturing beauty in diverse forms and more likely than not contains a brushstroke from one of those sacred tubes of paint that I still to this day find scattered around me.”
Couture said that she has approximately 15 pieces already displayed at the gallery with some of them being available for sale.
She added, “Aug. 10 is the day that I’m going to be going in and talking about myself and all the work to everyone that wants to attend that. That is when the items officially go on sale.”
Couture talked more about her work and said, “As a rising senior in high school, I’m dedicated to art both inside and outside of the classroom. My style, which is mainly seen blending vibrant colors with impressionistic freedom, incorporates pencil studies as well, which are influenced by the thousands of sketches in my schoolwork margins.”
Couture said she found out the news about her work being displayed from her shot put coach, Donald Longley, who also works and volunteers at the The Warrior’s Art Room. He said it would be perfect to have her work displayed there.
“It was really special. I was like they want me in like an exhibit? Of course. Obviously, I said yes and stuff like that. I went over, dropped some of my stuff with pricing and setting it all up,” she added.
She also thanked ShyAnne Glebocki from the gallery for helping her set everything up.
Couture said most of her art was completed in school during classes she has been taking since sophomore year. She will be taking honors art four this upcoming school year.
She added, “I joined because art was only like really a hobby for me at that time and something I wanted to get better at. I figured I can do something I enjoy, take classes where I can get credits for it, hang out with friends. That is the reason I joined but now I ended up being something I can put in an exhibit and sell so that’s really cool.”
Even before sophomore year, Couture said she has always been an artistically inclined kid.
She added, “I was always drawing more while my brothers were playing video games. I was always drawing or painting. Once my parents and family members saw I liked doing art more, for Christmas and birthdays they would get me art supplies and stuff like.”
Art took off for her once she got to high school because it taught her different techniques, skills and styles.
“It really helped out learning art movement and learning about different artists. I definitely like to paint more than I draw but I’ve always drawn like on my school work and stuff like that. Instead of paying attention when I was bored, I would be drawing,” Couture said.
A lot of her art pieces are inspired by different art movements such as fauvism and different artists such as Richard Yarde, Jane Moore Hughton, Leanne Hunter and Renea Leone.
Besides drawing or painting when she is bored, Courture said she also enjoys making art because of how relaxing it is.
She said, “Painting itself is really freeing, especially with acrylics because I can use more vibrant colors. They don’t have paint colors that are dulled down or at least the kits I got so I have these bright colors that I can find a nice picture on Pinterest and create that. Using acrylics, especially on a big canvas, you don’t have to be exact at all, they kind of just blend and works together and I think that’s what I like about it most, I don’t have to sit there and think about all the details.”
With her senior year coming up this fall, she said she looks forward to enjoy the school year with her sights set past that.
“I think senior year is great because you just pick out all the classes you want or you know you’re going to use in college or in the future. I am really looking forward to senior year, not just for the art aspect of it but being able to focus on what I really enjoy and finding out what I want to do in the future which I know now is definitely going to be something artistic, Couture said.
Right now, she is looking at doing medical illustration because it combines two things she enjoys, art and science.
