Kari McCarthy’s passion for visual phenomena, and her fascination with atmosphere and luminosity, have made her one of Maui’s preeminent colorists.

“I paint landscapes,” she says, “but it’s the color of nature that I’m after. Once you let go of your preconceptions—that grass is green, the sky is blue, and clouds are white and gray—you can begin to see the true colors. The road before you may appear gray at noon, but under different light, it can look lavender or peach. Light is the unifying force.”

Learning to truly see color takes time and commitment. Kari credits Dick Nelson, the respected artist and educator with whom she has studied for nearly three decades, for opening her eyes to the interaction of color and the science behind it. A student of the renowned colorist Josef Albers, Nelson has taught Albers’s insights to some of Maui’s most accomplished artists. Kari, he says, is one of his finest.

Art aficionados share his conviction: Kari’s oil paintings reside in public and private collections around the world. She exhibits in galleries throughout Maui, and in person each week at the Four Seasons Resort Wailea’s Artists’ Showcase.

Kari welcomes visits to her studio, in Kula, where she resides with her husband, Azby Chouteau, and their convivial dog, Lucy.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Viewpoints Gallery, Makawao, Hawaii

2010, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002

JURIED EXHIBITIONS

Art Maui

2020, 2015, 2005, 2004, 2003

Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center Juried Members Show

2003, 2002