Charmaine Kaptur, American, 1934-2024. A 20th century oil on canvas Detroit landscape featuring the canals of Jefferson-Chalmers. Signed "Charmaine" lower right, image 39 3/4 x 35 3/4" high, framed 41 1/4 x 37 1/4" high overall.
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Born in 1934, Charmaine Kaptur was a distinguished artist, educator, and designer known for her contributions to watercolor painting, papermaking, and experimental art. She earned a bachelor’s degree in art from Marygrove College in 1956, followed by a master’s degree in painting from Wayne State University in 1969. In the 1990s, she expanded her expertise in hand papermaking through studies at Central Michigan University and the Art Institute of Chicago’s Oxbow School. During the 1960s, she also led the Millard Sheets Painting Workshop in Mexico.
In 1964 she was awarded first place in the 1964 Michigan State Fair watercolor competition. Additional recognitions included the Maximilian Jaeger Award from the Michigan Watercolor Society, the Anderson Winter Show Award in Indiana, and a merit award from the Marygrove College Alumnae Show, Best of Show from the Grosse Pointe Artist Association and Studio 23 in Bay City (1994)and an honorable mention from the Scarab Club Watercolor Show (1999).
Her work was exhibited nationally and internationally, including the solo retrospective A Life in Art (September 2023). She showcased her paintings in Biarritz, France (1998), Graz, Austria (2000), and Stavanger, Norway (2002). In 1997, she designed the catalog for the Michigan Watercolor Society’s 50th-anniversary exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts and later taught experimental watercolor techniques at the Summer Arts Festival in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Charmaine’s artwork became part of notable corporate collections, including Young & Rubicam Advertising Agency, Arthur Andersen CPA, League Life Insurance Co., and several Detroit-area banks. She was a former board member and active member of the Michigan Watercolor Society and was affiliated with the Grosse Pointe Artist Association, Pointe Studio Ten, the Detroit Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, and the International Society of Experimental Artists.