Short Bio

Hélène Paulette Côté was born in Montréal in a family of painters. Her art has been shown in galleries the world over, including the prestigious Salon d’Automne in Paris. Côté started out working in silkscreen and is a founding member of The Manhattan Graphics Center, was VP/Acting President of The California Society of Printmakers and a Board Member of the Berkeley Art Center. She now spends her days painting in her Point Richmond studio, working primarily in acrylic on wood panel.

Statement

In an age of hyper-realism, information overload, multitasking, and technical prowess I choose to print or paint simple objects, in a rather simple way. These days I mostly paint but my roots are in screen printing.

I was born in Montréal, coming from two generations of painters and grew up speaking French. In the 60’s my parents moved us to Vancouver and during the cross-country car trip, I taught myself a bit of English by reading the road-side billboards of the late 60’s. I fell in love with their scale, big letters and bold flat colours. I was hooked! These billboards had a life-changing impact on me, I fell in love with screen printing and made advertising my lifelong career.

In all my work, printing or painting, there is a desire to transcend limits, be it the boundaries of line, colour, the physical constraints of a substrate or even space itself. Using flat colour and hand-cut stencils I prefer to focus on a singular object or subject that often seeks to break out of its confines in some way. I would also draw with an oil pastel directly onto my screen capturing the energy and spontaneity of my gestural line with an oil-resist technique rather than using photo screens.

Drawing from my roots in silkscreen printing, I approach the surface with a methodology akin to printmaking. Using birch panels allows me to create a stencil and roll-on flat, hard-edged colour shapes as the base for painted black lines that will define the subject. While the two appear to coexist on the same plane, it’s the tension between the line and the colour spilling beyond it that gives the subject energy.

In search of a more collaborative engagement in my recent work, I extend the painted line beyond the confines of the wood panel by transitioning to black wire. This element adds both dimension and a kinetic element. In effect, I surrender control as the author of a static painting. The dimensional additions enable an independent interplay of wire, light, and shapes allowing the piece to constantly redefine "itself" beyond my control, with an ever-changing representation to the viewer. By creating a collaboration between the work and its environment I endeavour to redefine the traditional perceptions of authorship, light, space, and the marking of time.

Biography

Hélène Paulette Côté was born in Montréal into a family of painters, where she studied Arts Plastiques at Dawson College and went on to advertising. 

She eventually left her career in advertising for what was to be six months in an artist colony in the South of France but leapt at the opportunity of a studio in Paris where she had a piece accepted into the Salon d'Automne. For nearly two years Hélène Paulette designed for an arts and entertainment magazine by night (the space was too small to hold both sales and editorial staff) and printed by day until a telegram brought her to New York City. She had two dreams, to live in Paris as an artist and do the same in New York City. 

Settling in SOHO she printed in the evenings at the Pratt Manhattan Studios. When they decided to permanently close their doors, it wasn’t long before she and her fellow printmakers founded The Manhattan Graphics Center, a SOHO artist-run studio still vital today. A few years later moved into the East Village scene of the '80s, working days and printing at night, becoming very involved in the local arts scene, and even curating a show. Several cross-country career moves later, Côté started printing at KALA Studios in Berkeley and became active in local public art projects.

Her accomplishments in the art world include former VP/Acting President of The California Society of Printmakers and Board Member of the Berkeley Arts Center. Her prints have been shown in galleries the world over, and her prints are currently available at the KALA Gallery in Berkeley.

When oil-base silkscreen inks were no longer viable in studios, Hélène Paulette reinvented herself and now spends her days painting in her Point Richmond studio, working primarily in acrylic on wood panels and as the design half of her husband’s jazz marketing agency, Morphist.

Resume / CV

Shows include galleries in Southern & Northern CA, New York City, London, Spain, Chicago, Montréal, Toronto, Pitsburg, Philadelphia, Dallas, Charlotte and the celebrated Salon d'Automne in Paris.

EXHIBITIONS

2023
- Voss Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Salon des Refusés

2022
- SFW Artists Gallery, San Fancisco, CA. Black and White and Shades Between

2021
- SFW Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA. SCAPES — City, Land and Sea

2020

- Piedmont Center for the Arts, CSP Member Show tbd. Piedmont, CA

- Artbox Projects, 30 Days Project. Zug, CH

- Berkeley Art Center, 2020 Members Exhibition. Berkeley, CA

2019

- ARC Studio & Gallery, SNAP. San Francisco, CA

- ArtSpan, Benefit Auction. San Francisco, CA

- Lindsay Dirkx Brown Gallery, Under Pressure. San Ramon, CA

- Richmond Art Center, Ready & Waiting. Richmond, CA

- YOLO Arts Gallery, Traditional Techniques. Woodland, CA

2018

- Marin MOCA, Novato, CA. AbstrACTION         

- Cannery Galleries, ClimART. San Francisco, CA
         

- Berkeley City Civic Center, City Hall Annual Installation. Berkeley, CA

- Bridge Art Space, CSP Member Show. Richmond, CA
         

- Berkeley Art Center. Berkeley, CA
         

- Kala Gallery, Annual Art Auction. Berkeley, CA
 

2017          

- Piedmont Center for the Arts, CSP Member Show. Piedmont, CA
 

2016 - 2009

- Berkeley Art Center, COLLECT! Berkeley, CA

2015-12

- KALA Gallery. Berkeley CA

2011

- Malonga Center Gallery, ARTmospheric Park Pigments. Oakland, CA
          

- KALA Gallery, On View. Berkeley, CA

- East Bay Open Studios. Oakland, CA

 

2010 – 1980 Selected Group Shows

CALIFORNIA

- Emery Arts, Annual Art Exhibition. Emeryville, CA

- San Anselmo Art & Wine Festival. San Anselmo, CA

- Green Chair Gallery. San Anselmo, CA

- ART Quest ‘86. Los Angeles, CA

NEW YORK

- Manhattan Graphics Center, On Broadway. New York, NY

- Ward-Nasse Gallery, SOHO Prints. New York, NY

- Harper Collins Gallery, Portraits in Words & Pictures. New York, NY

- Public Image Gallery. New York, NY

- Jewel Spiegel Gallery, Miniature Print Show. New York, NY

- Sylvan Cole Gallery, On Broadway. New York. NY

- John Szoke Gallery, Statue of Liberty Show. New York, NY

- Pratt Manhattan Gallery. New York, NY

- Zone Gallery. New York, NY

- Facets of Creativity Gallery. New York, NY

- City Without Walls Gallery. New Jersey, NY         


OTHER US CITIES

- Miriam Perlman Gallery, Made for Chicago. Chicago, IL

- N. Carolina Print & Drawing Society. Charlotte, NC
         

- Print Council of New Jersey. Branchburg, NJ

- Silvermine Guild Arts Center. New Canaan, CT

- Print Club of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, PA

EUROPE

- Société du Salon d’Automne, Salon d’Automne. Paris, FR

- Hard Times Gallery, Prints with a Point. London, UK

CANADA

- L’écart - Lieu d’Art Actuel, Dix Ans. Ruuyn-Noranda, QC

- Del Bello Gallery, Small Works Show. Toronto, ONT

- Open Studio, 10 Years. Toronto, ONT

- Total Art Gallery. Toronto, ONT 

 

SOLO SHOWS

- Sweeties Art Bar, American Icons. San Francisco, CA

- Ruby’s Café & Gallery, Anasazi Pottery prints. Emeryville, CA 

- Cava 555, Larger Than Actual Size. San Francisco, CA

- 832 Gallery, Open Studio. Dallas, TX

 

PUBLIC ART

2014 - Earth Island Institute, Electric Utility Box wrap. Berkeley, CA


1989- Le Swimming, Permanent Art installation. Montréal QC

1988 - Café L'Oeuf, Permanent Mural Installation. Montréal QC

CURATOR

1986 - Public Image Gallery, A printmaker's Point of View. New York City, NY