Renée Bouchard, b.1976 to French Canadian parents, was awarded the prestigious Pollock-Krasner and Puffin Foundation grants in 2023 after receiving an MFA in visual art from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2021. She received her BFA in painting, with honors, from the Maine College of Art in 1999. Other grants include: the Vermont Creation Grant and the Robert Rauschenburg Power of Art Grant, with additional nominations, including from the Dedalus Foundation and the Barbara Smail Award from the Burlington City Arts in Vermont. She has held residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, the Kate Millett Art Colony for Women, the Cooper Union and at Collar Works in Troy, NY. Her paintings have been included in Russell Sage College’s Opalka Gallery, Artspace New Haven, Southern Vermont College, Connecticut College, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Gallery 51, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Vermont State House, the Lyman Allyn Museum, the Bennington Museum, and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. Her work has been reviewed in The Country and Abroad, Vermont Digger and Art New England.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I investigate the use of color as if it were a machine, my focus is on the relationships of colors versus color in isolation. Escaping the confines of one reality and entering an alternate reality is often where I find meaning within the complexity of the mind and the emotions it houses.
Education
2021 • MFA, Vermont College of Fine Arts
1999 • BFA, Maine College of Art, in painting with honors
Solo Exhibitions
2025 • “Anonymous Citizens” Kiddie Pool. Albany, NY
2021 • “Allegory of Prudence” LA Arts Center, Lewiston, ME
2017 • “We The People” Southern Vermont College, Burgdorff Gallery, Bennington, VT
2016 • “Kaleidoscopic Pathos” Governor’s Gallery, Vermont State House, Montpelier, VT
2013 • “Confluence” McDaris Fine Art, Hudson, NY
2015 • “New Paintings” Kirkland Art Center, Clinton, NY
2009 • “Scapes” Bennington Museum, VT
2006 • “New Paintings” Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, VT
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 • “Painting at Night” Collar Works, Opalka Gallery at Russell Sage College, Albany, NY
2024 • “Down the Rabbit Hole” Lights Out Gallery, Norway, ME
2024 • “Fresh Paint Show” Virtual platform on Create Magazine, curated by Margaret Winslow of the Delaware Art Museum
2024 • “Pop Up Group Show” The Re Institute, Millerton, NY
2023 • “Holiday” Labspace, Hillsdale, NY
2023 • “Short Shift: Art to Action” Artspace New Haven, CT
2022 • “Gathering as Praxis, Nasty Women Connecticut” Lyman Allyn Museum and Connecticut College
2022 • “Elemental Fictions” Coral Door Gallery, New York, NY
2020 • “#MyDearMaine”online, University of Maine at Augusta, Danforth Gallery
• “Unmasked: Pandemic Response” Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT
• “Reimagining Family” The Cordial Eye, Hyannis, MA
• “Three Women Artists” The Interchurch Center, New York, NY
2017 • “Es Tu Art Brut?” Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
2014 • “Seven Women Artists” Big Town Gallery, Rochester, VT
• “Inside the Outside: Reconsidering Our Views About Art” Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Gallery 51, North Adams, MA
2011 • “New Paintings” Kirkland Art Center, Clinton, NY
2009 • “Cultural Corridor” Storefront Artist Project, Pittsfield, MA
2005 • “New York, New England, New Talent” UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA
• “Emerging Maine Painters” Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, ME
1999 • “Next Generation” Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME
Grants and Awards
2023 • Pollock-Krasner Foundation
2022 • Puffin Foundation
• Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
2020 • “The Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship in Painting” Nominee
2016 • Burlington City Arts, “Barbara Smail Award” Nominee
2014 • MECA/Down East Magazine “Emerging Artist Award” DownEast Magazine’s 60th Anniversary commemorative cover
feature
2008 • Individual Artist Grant, Vermont Arts Council
2005 • River View Gallery “Honorable Mention” by the Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
2003 • Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, at the Lab School of Washington “Power of Art Grant” for Exceptional Art
Teachers working with students with Learning Disabilities
Residencies
2024 • Collar Works and Chashama 50 4th Street Artist Residency
2022 • Artspace New Haven, CT
2009 • Vermont Studio Center
2006 • The Cooper Union
1999 • Kate Millett Art Colony for Women
Teaching Experience
2025-26 • Adjunct Drawing Professor SUNY Adirondack (forthcoming)
2022 • Robert Frost Museum at Bennington College, A Literary and Painterly Landscape
2020 • Vermont College of Fine Art, Color Interaction & Racial Rhetoric, lecture/pop up workshop
2017-18 • Southern Vermont College, Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing
2009-11 • North Berkshire School Union, Pre-K -8th grade Art Teacher, Gabriel Abbott Memorial School and
Clarksburg Elementary School, High School Art Mentor, Storefront Artist Project, Pittsfield, MA
2008 • Young Adult Workshop Coordinator/Teacher, Salem Art Works, Salem, NY
2005-8 • Artist/Teacher, Vermont Arts Exchange, Bennington, VT
2001-4 • Head of Art Department, Aucocisco School; an Arts-Based School for K-12th grade students
with Learning Disabilities
2003 • Artist in Residence, Peaks Island Elementary School, ME
2000-1 • Artist/Teacher, Oak Street Studios, Portland ME
Professional Affiliations
2023 • P.A.V.E (Project Against Violent Encounters) Volunteer Hotline Advocate/Counselor
2021-24 • Unlearning Imperialism Collective
2018-20 • Artists Against Fascism
2015 • Jessica Park Project Advisory Committee
2010-11 • Kidspace, MASS MoCA, Teacher Advisory Committee
Lectures
2024 • Russell Sage College, Panel Discussion with Kaylan Buteyn, Painting at Night Exhibition
2015 • Bennington Museum, Lecture/Workshop: Rock Art and Printmaking
2014 • Big Town Gallery, Rochester NY: Conversation with Seven Women Painters exploring questions of life, work,
family & creativity.
2012 • Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Gallery 51, North Adams, MA: Exhibiting Artist Talk: Inside the Outside:
Reconsidering Our Views About Art, Evening Panel Discussion
• Art Education and the Education of the Artist
2008 • Union College, Visiting Artist Slide Lecture/Critique
• Vermont Arts Exchange, Stark Hose Gallery, Individual Artist Grant Process Talk
2004 • University of Southern Maine, Visiting Artist Slide Lecture
2002 • ICA at The Maine College of Art, Panel Discussion: Isolation and Dislocation
1999 • Learning Disabilities Association of America, The Power of Art for Students on the spectrum.
Publications
2024 • I Like Your Work Podcast, Studio Visit Artist
2024 • Hyperallergic Magazine, “10 Best Shows to View in Upstate New York”, October
2023 • INTERLOCUTOR Magazine “Artist/Mother” Spring, Interview
2021 • Art New England “Unmasked: Artful Responses to the Pandemic” March/April, Review
2020 • Isele Magazine “Artist/Mother/Quarantine” Creative Nonfiction Essay
2017 • The Country and Abroad, "WE THE PEOPLE" Exhibit by Artist-in-Residence, Renée Bouchard, at Southern Vermont
College Gallery, April/May, Beth Potter, Interview
• The Bennington Banner, "Mindscapes derived from memory With Artist Renee Bouchard opens new exhibition at SVC gallery" January 15, 2017, Telly Halkias, Interview
2016 • Vermont Digger, SOUTHERN VERMONT COLLEGE ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE RENÉE BOUCHARD TO OFFER “ART,
MAKING AND MEANING", December, 2016, Marion Whiteford, Interview
• The Berkshire Eagle, “Artist in Focus/Renée Bouchard: From small town to state house”, July, Telly Halkias, Interview
• The Times Argus, Visual Art Review: The World and Within: Renee Bouchard and Tom Wies”, July, Interview
2015 • Hill Country Observer, “A toddler as muse, Bennington artist blends family, creative lives in works that challenge”
July, Telly Halkias, Interview
• Folk Art Messenger "Inside the Outside: Reconsidering Our Views About Art" Tony Gengarelly, Review
2014 • Down East Magazine, 60th Anniversary Commemorative Cover, August, 2014
2013 • Southern Vermont Arts and Living, “The Art/Life Balance Southern Vermont artists reflect on juggling their creative
pursuits and the realities of parenting” April 3, Arlene Distler, Review
2011 • Art New England, “Renée Bouchard, Towle Hill Studio, Corinth VT”, July/August, Arlene Distler, Review
2009 • Southern Vermont Arts and Living “Color Sense” Note cover image: “Peripheral Scattering, ‘Scapes’ Recent
Paintings by Renee Bouchard at the Bennington Museum” Fall, Arlene Distler, Interview and cover image
• Vermont Art Zine “WALKABOUT: The Bennington Museum” Janet Van Fleet, Review
• Bennington Banner “Birth, Death have their place in Stark Installation” Ryan, Review