Born in Belgium in 1945, Francis Coutellier studied art at Maredsous and pursued his art studies in painting and ceramics at the École nationale supérieure d’architecture et des arts visuels de Bruxelles. In 1979, he obtained a Master's Degree in Fine Art (photography) from the State University of New York, in Buffalo under the direction of Robert Frank, Joan Lyons and Michael Snow. His further education was developed through numerous workshops including film with Robert Frank (1983), bookbinding (1990), intaglio with Pavel Skalnik (1991) and a Polaroid Transfer Image course in Toronto (1995).
 
Francis Coutellier has lived in Canada since 1967 when he was a professor of visual arts at the Cégep in Matane, Québec. He moved to New Brunswick and was a professor in the Fine Arts Department of the Université de Moncton 1969 – 2006 where he taught ceramics, painting, drawing and photography. He has been president of the Galerie Sans Nom (Aberdeen Cultural Centre), of the Board of Directors of the Aberdeen Cultural Centre and was head of the Visual Arts Department at l’Université de Moncton for several years.

He has exhibited his artwork in nearly 200 exhibitions throughout the world, including Canada, the United States, Hong Kong, Belgium, France and many other European countries. He has had more than 30 solo exhibitions of his work. Since the early 1970s, Francis has pushed the boundaries of the photographic medium, collaborated on numerous projects, produced eight books, produced many magazine and journal articles and has continued to influence a younger generation of artists through his teaching. He has received many honours as a practicing artist including grants from the Canada Council, from the Conseil de recherche de l’Université de Moncton and from the Province of New Brunswick. In his 1989 retrospective exhibition Francis Coutellier: Many Modes, organized by Michael Christopher Lawlor for the UNB Arts Centre, in Fredericton, 65 works showed the multi-faceted creativity of his first 20 years as arts maker including paintings, prints, ceramics, tapestries, artist’s books and photographs. Over the next two years, the exhibition travelled to various Canadian art galleries. Francis and his work are featured in the 2003 book "A New Brunswick Trilogy - Philip Iverson, Francis Coutellier and Sarah Maloney" published by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and most recently in "Portraits - Painters of New Brunswick" published by Goose Land Editions. His work is held in many public collections including the Musée des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the New Brunswick Art Bank, Harvard University, Memorial University, the Confederation Centre Art Gallery and Museum and the University of New Brunswick.
 
He is a driving force in the New Brunswick art community in which he participates as an active artist, curator, private collector and agent and has played an integral part in the development of contemporary art in Acadie.