Fred Choate is a fourth generation Idaho native. He was born in Wendell and grew up in Buhl and Twin Falls. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Idaho State University. His "art" career began in high school, making spending money painting monster hot rods on sweatshirts. He also illustrated his senior yearbook.

In 1982 Fred began his "full time" art career painting large murals around the Northwest. In 1997 landscape painters Tom Szewc and Ovanes Berbarian introduced Fred to plein air painting. Since then his full time passion has been painting the Southern Idaho landscape.

I grew up in Southern Idaho, which has a wonderful diversity of subject matter. Within a one-hour drive from my home in Boise I can find deep canyons, deserts, alpine lakes and farmlands. I'm beginning to find however that it is the relationship of water to the land that really fascinates me. No two bodies of water refract and reflect light in the same way. Attempting to capture this elusive quality of water is what keeps painting exciting for me."