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Brigitte Curt, born in Paris, France, is a true "French
Impressionist" in the California landscape. As a youth,
she spent much time in open nature in Provence where her
family stayed many months a year in their estate by the
sea. The intimate contact with nature and its creatures,
and the sense of limitless space, marked forever her
young and enthusiastic soul, as she was running free in
the hills, nourished by humanistic philosophy and
artistic endeavors. She studied philosophy at the
University of Paris, and later earned degrees in
ethnography and ethno-sociology at the University of
Alger, Algeria and Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Africa.
Afterwards, Brigitte spent nearly ten years traveling,
studying and working among the Targui in the Sahara and
in villages of the rainforest in West Africa, before
returning to Paris. There she began painting
semi-abstract, cosmic landscapes in pastels and mixed
media as well as developing paintings from her African
photography.
In 1987, Brigitte relocated to California, where she
began a full-time academic training program, studying
color theory, rendering, materials of drawing and
painting, portraiture, form and composition, life
drawing, and of course, her beloved plein air painting.
Brigitte's work developed and matured through three
years as studio assistant to Ovanes Berberian, whose
mentoring influenced her color harmony and brushwork.
In 1992, she began teaching plein air landscape painting
to a small group of enthusiastic students. Her classes
have grown continuously ever since, and she now teaches
two full classes every week, regular landscape workshops
in the Californian countryside, and workshops in
Provence every summer. She is also founder and leader of
the Bay Area Contemporary Plein Air Circle (BACPAC).
Brigitte loves to travel with her paint box. She has
painted in Australia, China, several times in Russia,
and around the western United States, including Oregon,
Idaho, Utah, New Mexico and all along the California
Coast.
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