Biography
Pierre Coupey (b1942) was raised and educated in Montreal. He graduated from Lower Canada College, received his BA from McGill University, and studied drawing at the Académie Julian and printmaking at the Atelier 17 in Paris. He received his MA in English and Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and a Certificate in Printmaking from the Art Institute, Capilano University.
He was a founding Co-editor of The Georgia Straight and the founding Editor of The Capilano Review. His work has received awards, grants and commissions, including grants from the Conseil des Arts du Québec, the Canada Council, the British Columbia Arts Council, and the Audain Foundation for the Arts. In 2013 he received the Distinguished Artist Award from FANS. He was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2018. In 2019 he received the designation Faculty Emeritus for his service to Capilano University and his ongoing contributions to Canada's literary and artistic communities. His archives (Pierre Coupey Fonds) are held in the Contemporary Literature Collection at Simon Fraser University Library in Vancouver.
He has published several books of poetry, chapbooks and catalogues, and exhibited in solo and group shows nationally and internationally. His work is represented in numerous private collections in Canada, the United States, Japan and Europe, and in numerous corporate, university and public collections across Canada. He has received private and corporate painting commissions, notably for 745 Thurlow in Vancouver and Fifteen 15 in Calgary. Major public collections include the Belkin Art Gallery, Burnaby Art Gallery, Canada Council Art Bank, Kelowna Art Gallery, Simon Fraser University Art Gallery, University of Guelph Collection, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Vancouver Art Gallery and West Vancouver Art Museum.
PC w/ parrot beak, circa 1977, photo © Michael Ondaatje
Pierre Coupey Studio respectfully acknowledges we live and work on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.