Sound On: The Sound of Stars in Portable Coordinates @praise.shadows.art , up through June 6th.
I made my first sound work to accompany the 38’ x 12’ sewn Sky Ceiling (The Sound of Stars). It took some trial and error but I eventually captured the best twinkling sounds by recording in my dry glass shower padded with fabric and an array of small bells.
I’ve been interested in asteroseismology, which is a method of converting or translating a star’s vibrations into audio format so scientists can measure the size, brightness, composition, age, and distance of a star. Each star has its own signature “ring”. Larger stars produce deeper sounds and smaller stars produce higher ones. Similarly, the various bells standing in for stars here have pitches that correlate to their size and material as well.
There are approx 2000 bell stars (and a few crystals and keys) in this small cosmos. ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
In today's @bostonglobe by @cate.mcquaid :
"Symbols hold multitudes. Lacouture, a Boston artist, uses codes and archetypes to critique societal problems such as gun violence, and enfold the problems they generate in softness and care. In this exhibition, she parlays naval signal flags, the constellations as interpreted by H.A. Rey in his 1952 children’s book “The Stars: A New Way to See Them,” and flower symbols into objects that open up mystery and feeling."
@crystallelacouture
Flags to Fold in Pocket, 2026, included in Portable Coordinates @praise.shadows.art
Made on dyed and manipulated Sekishu paper with hand lettering. Dimensions vary from pocket size to full sheet. Meant to be touched. These are currently available to gently handle at the gallery through 6/6.
First photo @danthemanphoto All others @juliafeatherphoto
Free Beacons, 2026, from my current solo show, Portable Coordinates, at Praise Shadows. These pieced and sewn lanterns made from decommissioned nautical signal flags are fitted (like gloves) on wooden obelisk structures. They’re beacons for dark times made of soft, coded, repurposed material. Each of these sculptures (though I refer to them as 3D paintings) is topped with a collected finial- a bell, a sundial, a magnifying glass, a silver ball, a nautilus shell, a lantern (with working candle).
When times are murky and there’s so much sifting through the noise, there can always be a light on to help you find your way. Maybe too there is a cosmos of ringing bell stars and a sea below that’s so reflective you can see yourself✨✨✨
Huge thanks to my gallery @praise.shadows.art for believing in my spontaneous leap into three dimensional works and to @marz_kc who helped sew and piece each one, and to my rock @oliviatriesshitout who helped me make and remake these structures over and over and over again. Always expanding the tool kit.
Portable Coordinates is up through June 6th. Come visit. 🙏🏼✨❤️
You are invited!
Crystalle Lacouture's Portable Coordinates opens tonight April 24 from 6-8 pm. Follow the lights and the stars to 129 Kingston St.
@crystallelacouture
Photo by Dan Watkins for Praise Shadows.
Putting final touches on Crystalle Lacouture's solo exhibition, Portable Coordinates! Join the artist for the Opening Reception this Friday, April 24 from 6 to 8pm.
The exhibition is on view through June 6.
@crystallelacouture
What does it mean to look at the present in conversation with the past?
At @ConcordArt , ”Homages,” curated by @CrystalleLacouture , brings together artists who draw from earlier movements and “masterworks,” using tribute as both reference and reimagination. The exhibition also considers how everyday materials and moments can be elevated through attention—what we choose to honor, and why.
During a recent visit to Concord, COO Tom had the chance to experience the show firsthand—particularly meaningful in a place where history and contemporary practice exist so closely side by side.
As Tom shared: “What better place than Concord to experience work that reveals layers of time and invites conversation with the past. The exhibition is beautifully curated and deeply inspiring. We care for objects that span centuries—from Revolutionary War artifacts to contemporary works connected to Concord—and it’s a privilege to help steward that full continuum.”
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@Praise.Shadows.Art #ConcordArt #ArtExhibition #ArtStewardship #ContemporaryArt #FortressStorage
Announcing the 2026 My HomeCourt Artist: Crystalle Lacouture
She's painted 70-foot murals. Her work hangs in museums, universities and some of the most respected collections in the country. Now? She's bringing her vision to our 2026 court.
Based in Boston and North Adams, MA and represented by Praise Shadows Gallery, Crystalle Lacouture has spent her career turning walls, canvases and spaces into something that stops you in your tracks.
A 2025 Mass Cultural Council Grant for Creative Individuals recipient, Fine Arts Work Center fellow, Co-Founder of Arrival (art fair) and artist in residence at institutions across the country, her work has been profiled in Boston Art Review and reviewed in the Boston Globe, Art News, and Whitewall. We are so honored to have her vision painted right here in our community.
We can't wait to share what Crystalle is designing for our next court. Stay tuned for updates!
#myhomecourt #pvdart #pvdparks
Photos:
(2) Afternoon; multi-woodblock print on Rives BFK by Crystalle Lacouture
(3) Correspondence (for Elizabeth Bishop); Mural at Worcester Art Musueum by Crystalle Lacouture
(4) House Jewelry (for Simmons University); steel cable, bells, wooden beads by Crystalle Lacouture
(5) First Light; multi-woodblock print on Rives BFK by Crystalle Lacouture
Praise Shadows is honored to announce Portable Coordinates, the gallery’s second solo exhibition by Crystalle Lacouture and the first solo presentation at the new Downtown Boston location. Expanding on her printmaking, painting and installation practice, Lacouture unveils an entirely new body of work, comprising illuminated sculptures, paintings on paper and on board, woodblock prints, MAMA Drawings on scorekeeper shooting targets, and flags that are both artwork and wearable pieces. Also included is the newest iteration of Half Mast (pictured here), a memorial for gun violence victims made from a compilation of drawings. The breadth of these materials and formats reflects Lacouture’s steadfast exploration of symbols and codes as forms of communication.
The gallery will host an artist talk with Lacouture moderated by Kate McNamara (@katemcn ), the John R. & Barbara Robinson Family Director, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, on Thursday, May 7 from 6:30 to 7:30.
For details on the exhibition and the talk, visit the link in our bio.
@crystallelacouture
Crystalle Lacouture
Half Mast 52 Weeks (Somebody's Baby)
2026
Gouache and colored pencil on 10 Meter Air Pistol Target
Artwork photography by Julia Featheringill, courtesy the artist and Praise Shadows
On Stars… for the last year and a half I’ve been following a guide book, The Stars by H.A. Rey (who also wrote Curious George w/ wife Margret Rey). The simple, and beautifully generous premise of this book is to share complicated cosmic knowledge with everyday readers. Rey believed that the stars belonged to everybody and that to simplify the diagrams of the constellations- just by connecting the lines differently- could allow the lay person to take a more accessible, pictographic version of star arrangements with them, to learn, remember, and to share with others.
As a nonscientist I’m deeply inspired by Rey’s poetic and accessible translation of something as vast and intangible as constellations into portable and highly relatable narrative images.
Hans Augusto Reyersbach and Margret Waldstein were German Jews living in Paris in 1940 when they had to flee the Nazis on bicycles. They left everything behind except the Curious George manuscript. They moved to NYC and then to Cambridge, MA, living in Harvard Square from 1963 until HA’s death in 1977. Despite the huge impact they had on children’s literature they never had their own kids.
Much of the work I’m making for my upcoming solo show called “Portable Coordinates” @praise.shadows.art (opening April 24th) expands on “The Stars” and my perennial interests in elemental symbols, offerings of “help”, navigation, sound, materiality, poetry, memorials, and portability.
Looking forward to sharing this vision with you soon.
Now back to work! 💫💫💫
Excited to be offering two printmaking workshops at @bplboston this April. Inspired by the excellent “REVOLUTION! 250 Years of Art and Activism in Boston” exhibition, we’ll be learning about prints as a medium for resistance, as a tool for disseminating inexpensive multiples, and the power and legibility of graphics. No experience necessary. Pick an issue (or 5!) and make your message visible. We’ll be using the historic BPL etching press along with hand-printing to make visually effective protest posters. FREE. Register @ BPL.org This program is part of the Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness series with @parkivist and the wonderful @bplboston arts team Emily, Alea, and Calder.
