Rica O. Coulter was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1928. She graduated from the art department at the University of Illinois, where she studied with Lee Chesney. She then studied at the Colorado Springs Fine Art School and at Atelier 17 in New York. Coulter moved to California, settling in Santa Barbara, where she worked with printmaker Ricki McNeill. She has been a member of the Santa Barbara Art Association, The Goleta Art Ass'n and the Sculpture Guild of Santa Barbara. She currently resides in Santa Barbara where she continues to work.