An Artistic Upbringing
Curtis Wilson Cost was born in Palos Verdes, California in 1953. Shortly after, he moved to Oʻahu with his mother, a public school teacher. He visited his father, prolific representative painter James Peter Cost, each summer in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where his father owned a successful art gallery selling his oil and gouache paintings of coastal and rural California. Influenced by his artistic upbringing, especially by his father, Curtis developed a profound appreciation for drawing and painting from a young age.
1953
Inspiration Hits
Curtis grew up surfing and immersed in Hawaiian culture, further deepening his admiration for the natural beauty of the islands. He had developed a love for art, but he didn’t want to paint the California seascapes and golf courses his father had become renowned for, but he hadn’t found a subject matter of choice. While visiting a friend’s house after school, Curtis Wilson Cost discovered Lloyd Sexton, Jr. paintings in their den. The paintings struck him as “staggeringly beautiful”. It was then that he decided to paint the beauty of rural Hawai'i.
1968
A Cashier and a Carrot Juicer
At the turn of the decade, Curtis was a musician in a band that played for shows at his high school and working his first job as a carrot juicer at the health food store The Good Earth. It was there that he met and fell in love with Jill Cost, who was a cashier there at the time. They spent their days kicking back at Kalihi Ice Ponds and making art and music with friends.
1970
The Cost Protégé
After graduating high school, Curtis decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. He traveled with Jill to James Peter Cost’s gallery in Carmel-by-the-Sea for a full training in professional painting and gallery business ownership. From the fat-over-lean rule to gallery marketing. James passed down a lifetime of painting knowledge to Curtis over an 8-month visit.
1972
Falling in Love with Maui
After his father’s master course in painting, Curtis and Jill were eager to return to Hawai'i. They settled on Maui as a quieter alternative to Oʻahu. The two first amped out in a Volkswagen Bus in Upcountry Maui, eventually moving to the cottage that inspired Curtis’ piece “My Studio”. Carefree and happily impecunious, Curtis was transfixed by the beauty of Maui, producing painting after painting of its allure.
1973
Local Acclaim
Over the next decade, Curtis began selling his painting in local galleries and developed the reputation as a remarkable representative landscape artist that endures today. He became the top-selling artist at Village Gallery in Lahaina and expanded his art to another gallery named Baldwin Home. His art was the first to be featured at Kaluanui, Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center. Curtis became known as rural Maui’s representational painter.
1977
The One-Man Gallery Begins
After working with gallery resellers in Lahaina for years, Curtis saw potential where no one else did: in the owners’ quarters of the Kula Lodge. The owners’ quarters were dank and covered in sawdust from woodworking, but Curtis saw them for what they could be: a one-man gallery located nearer to his paintings’ rural subjects on the slopes of Haleakalā. Around the same time, Curtis and Jill began building their current home nearby. Over the next two decades, Curtis operated his own one-man gallery out of Kula Lodge and Lahaina.
1984
Memorializing Maui
Photo by Daniel Sullivan
As Curtis’ style evolved, he became somewhat of a Maui record keeper. His paintings preserved a rural Maui that was disappearing. The Hawai'i Transportation Association took note and adorned the renovated Kahului Airport with the scenes of a rapidly changing Maui to be preserved for future generations. Curtis Wilson Cost artwork now also hangs in Hilo and Kona airports, as well as in private collections worldwide.
As Curtis’ style evolved, he became somewhat of a Maui record keeper. His paintings preserved a rural Maui that was disappearing. The Hawai'i Transportation Association took note and adorned the renovated Kahului Airport with the scenes of a rapidly changing Maui to be preserved for future generations. Curtis Wilson Cost artwork now also hangs in Hilo and Kona airports, as well as in private collections worldwide.
2019
The Pièce de Résistance
Photo by Ilir Bajraktari
After the Kula Lodge gallery closed during the pandemic in 2020, the Cost family opened up their spectacularly picturesque Maui property as an Airbnb and a new onsite gallery. Described as his Pièce de Résistance, the property itself is a work of art, complete with a wisteria-covered footbridge, yoga deck, every kind of fruiting tree you can imagine and sweeping views of the serene and timeless beauty of Maui. Open by appointment, Curtis Wilson Cost invites travelers and art lovers to experience the Maui that first captivated him in the 70s while shopping for a timeless piece of art to take home.
After the Kula Lodge gallery closed during the pandemic in 2020, the Cost family opened up their spectacularly picturesque Maui property as an Airbnb and a new onsite gallery. Described as his Pièce de Résistance, the property itself is a work of art, complete with a wisteria-covered footbridge, yoga deck, every kind of fruiting tree you can imagine and sweeping views of the serene and timeless beauty of Maui. Open by appointment, Curtis Wilson Cost invites travelers and art lovers to experience the Maui that first captivated him in the 70s while shopping for a timeless piece of art to take home.
2021
Preserving Memories
Today, The Curtis Wilson Cost gallery is the longest-running one-man gallery in the state of Hawai'i. His hundreds of paintings serve as an archive of an ever-changing Hawai'i landscape – a testament to a simpler time. His art is celebrated not only in Hawai'i but also in private collections worldwide. Collectors of Curtis Wilson Cost artwork preserve their favorite Maui memories in landscapes they have passed onto their children and grandchildren. Start your own Curtis Wilson Cost tradition: Become a collector.
Today
A Family of ArtistsSewistsDesigners
The Curtis Wilson Cost Gallery is a family legacy built on a deep love for art, nature, and personal expression. Curtis Wilson Cost’s journey as an artist is one rooted in family, passion, and the desire to preserve the untouched beauty of Maui.
Curtis Wilson Cost
Curtis Wilson Cost's original paintings and reproductions of the Hawai'i are some of the most sought-after in the world. He began his art career in the 1970s, and opened the Curtis Wilson Cost Gallery at the Kula Lodge with his wife Jill Cost in 1985. Mr. Cost continues to paint multiple new works a year and has the longest running one-man gallery in the state of Hawai'i.
“My work is about place and timelessness. I have lived in Hawai'i most of my life, and over the decades, my paintings have become an archive of the islands as they have grown, preserving them through renderings of the way they once were, and the way they remain underneath the surface of change.” - CWC
Jill Ann Radner Cost: Curtis’ Wife
Jill Ann Radner Cost is the powerhouse behind the Curtis Wilson Cost Gallery. She has been leading and managing the business behind the scenes since the inception of Mr. Cost’s painting career. She is a talented sewist and fabric designer and had her own one-woman business called Kulia Batiks before she and Mr. Cost built their fine art gallery together in the early 1980s.
James Peter Cost: Curtis’ Father
James Peter Cost was a California representative painter and a teacher of Fine Art. He co-owned the James Peter Cost Gallery in Carmel with his wife BettyJo Cost. He was the recipient of $5,000 and the Gold Medal from Franklin Mint in 1975 for the First Award out of 500 entries for the most outstanding American Seascape Artist. Two of his paintings made it to the front cover of Reader's Digest in the 60s and 70s, and many of his images were printed on the covers of California magazines. His artwork is now on display in the Monterey County Museum of Art, Monterey, CA and the Museum collection at Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, TX. In addition, Cost’s work can be found at President Ronald Reagan’s Young American’s Foundation in Santa Barbara, CA.
Rogene Radner: Jill’s Mother
Rogene Radner, was a professional painter, illustrator, fashion designer, and textile designer. She was an art professor at UH Mānoa, a graphic designer and a science illustrator for a book that's in the Smithsonian. She also designed fabrics for Malia, Hawaii, Inc and also had her own fashion line on O’ahu in the 1970s called “Rogene of Hawaii.” Her textiles were featured in National Geographic’s “Hawaii” published in 1970. The caption in National Geographic reads: “At Malia Hawaii, Inc, Rogene Radner paints bright patterns for holiday wear.”
Julia Allisson Cost: Curtis’ Daughter
Julia Allisson Cost has been painting professionally since 2005. Julia is passionate about making anything by hand, in particular: capturing the world on canvas through painting, and transforming her paintings into textile designs, which become the raw material for her clients’ sewing artistry. Most recently, she released her first picture book, The Girl and the Boat, which tells a story of friendship through 30 richly detailed oil paintings. Some of her paintings are available through the Curtis Wilson Cost Gallery.
Elliott Wilson Cost: Curtis’ Son
Elliott Wilson Cost is an artist, designer, and programmer living in Rotterdam. He tends to File Life,Special Fish,Gossip's Web and various other poetic web domains. Previously, he was a digital designer at Bloomberg News, helped design and develop Kickstarter's The Creative Independent, and taught interaction design at The New School in New York City. Growing up in a deeply creative family has shaped how he looks at the world.
