
Andrea Abarca Coutts “Abarcacoutts Part One”
Andrea Abarca-Coutts was born in Iquique, Chile in 1987 and moved to New Jersey when she was three years old. Andrea gained acceptance to Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts where she specialized in drawing and book
making. In 2010 she began attending the Rhode Island School of Design for art education. During her time at RISD she worked as a teaching artist at a Portfolio Preparation program run by RISD for urban high school students. In 2012 she started a Post Baccalaureate Certificate program at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth concentrating on Drawing. She was invited to join the MFA program shortly thereafter. Andrea views drawing as the most honest of art forms. This manifests itself in her work when she utilizes the sketchy, sinuous quality of drawing to create feelings of dirtiness and unrest that contrast with the cleansing atmosphere of the bath tub. A juxtaposition of the sensations of dirt and grime with those of the sterile, clean bathroom are often present in her work.
By Zachary Ritter
“Infinite Layers” New Brunswick Art Salon 2013 Part II Water Color Exhibition
Selected Exhibtions:
Solo:
“Vessel Most Clean” Gallery 244, UMass Dartmouth,
New Bedford, MA 2013
Orpha’s Coffee Shop, Skillman, NJ 2006
Group:
“Student Art Show” The Gallery at Worcester State
University, Worcester, MA 2013
“black ink” The OLEK Pop-Up Projects, Astoria, NY 2012
“CityArts Arts Blossoms Gala Auction” Roger Williams
Botanical Gardens, Providence, RI 2010
“CityArts Staff Show” Providence CityArts,
Providence, RI 2009-10
“Films for Social Change” Tufts University, Medford, MA, 2008
“Animals in the Sun” Brown and Brew Cafe, Medford, MA 2008*
“Terminal C Show” Boston Logan Airport, 2008*
“SMFA Spring Drawing Show” Boston, MA
“Transitions: Drawing into Painting” SMFA, Boston, 2007
**took part in the curation of the show.
Selected Awards:
Fellowship Award Recipient UMass, Dartmouth 2013-2014
Scholarship Recipient UMass, Dartmouth 2012-2013
RISD Fellowship Grant 2011
Gretchen Clapp Orr Scholarship 2011 + 2012
Americorps VISTA Service Scholarship 2010
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Merit Scholarship 2005-8
Medici Society Full Tuition, SMFA Sholarship 2008
Teaching Experience:
Teaching Artist
2013-Present, Artworks! New Bedford
No Place for Hate; Jewish Federation of NB Holocaust
Project, Contemporary Heroes Portrait Photo Project
Students Ages, 14-18, New Bedford, MA
Program Leader + Instructor
Summer 2011, Ursuline Sisters Orphanage and Refugee Center for Girls, Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti
Teaching Assistant + Community Liason
Fall 2010, Rhode Island School of Design,
Communtiy Arts Project under John Chamberlin
Visiting Teaching Artist
Fall 2010 , Providence ¡CityArts! for Youth!
“Arts in the Future” Ages 8-10
Visiting Teaching Artist + Assistant
Fall 2010, RISD Project Open Door
Portfolio Preparation and Foundations at
Central Falls High School, Central Falls, RI
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