Skipping class leads artist to launch career

The gift of a large brown rock and an urge to skip a night class became the turning point that changed Jason Carter’s life. It was the night his inner sculptor emerged.

 “One night, I had to go to a class and was looking for a reason to skip,” he recalls. “I picked up the rock, scraped at it, took it onto the deck and used the tools I had – a screwdriver and a wrench – and I turned it into a raven. I sat on the deck for six hours and carved, and that was it. I was hooked.”

Since then, Carter’s talent has propelled him from one show to another, to exhibits and commissions that recently pushed him to leave a day job he loved at CityTV, to dedicate his time to his art. He is widely recognized as an accomplished contemporary Aboriginal visual artist.

Now 32, Carter grew up in south Edmonton, where he graduated from Harry Ainlay High School. He spent time visiting his mother’s hometown in John D’Or Cree Nation in northern Alberta, and lived there for a brief time. His Native roots are evident in the vivid colours and natural subjects in his paintings and soapstone carvings.

When Carter decided to do his first exhibit in 2007, he set a date and booked a hall, then started sculpting. When he realized he had nothing to put on the walls, he started painting his carvings. “I started there and then began to pursue both, since that first exhibit was beyond my wildest dreams successful.”

That’s an understatement. Carter sold out the carvings and the paintings at that inaugural show, and halfway through the run had to paint more. Nearly 50 pieces were sold by the time the show was over.

Carter was thrilled to be chosen as the only artist in Alberta to have a feature showing at Alberta House during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

In April 2011, a show at the Royal Alberta Museum called “The Terrific Tales of One Trickster Rabbit” introduced Nanabozho (Jason’s trickster rabbit muse), and was the launch of a children’s book, “Who is Boo,” penned by Bridget Ryan and illustrated by Carter. A second children’s book will soon be released.

His work continues to earn acclaim. This year, he won the Northlands Emerging Artist Award at the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts, and was commissioned to work on a couple of public installations that will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people.

First, a brilliant mural representing Alberta has been unveiled at the Edmonton International Airport. It measures 60 feet by seven feet, and will be seen by an estimated one million people per year.

Secondly, Carter was selected as one of three Aboriginal artists to paint panels along the south LRT line in Edmonton. They were enthusiastically received at the unveiling in mid-September.

Urban Animals is a new exhibit painted by Carter for the Art Gallery of Alberta’s Travelling Exhibit program. It features 16 or 18 paintings of six animals indigenous to Alberta in both their natural environment and the urban landscape. It will travel through galleries and schools around the province over the next two years.

In partnership with Ryan, Carter has opened a gallery and live music venue in Canmore. The Carter-Ryan Gallery features Carter’s paintings and carvings, and it will also host music, cabaret and live art on the weekends.

Today, Carter is busy carving 24 soapstone bears for another upcoming show. “I received a grant to explore bears through dreams,” he explained. “To Dream the Bear” is on display for six weeks at the Carter-Ryan Gallery in Canmore, running from Dec. 1, 2012, to Jan 13, 2013.