JASON CARTER, Bearclaw Gallery — $300 to $5,000, Edmonton

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"Mount Edith Cavell"

Jason Carter, "Mount Edith Cavell," 2012, acrylic on canvas,18” x 24”.

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Picasa

"Wapiti at Ha Ling Lake"

Jason Carter, "Wapiti at Ha Ling Lake," 2012, acrylic on canvas, 40” x 60”.

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"Three Sisters and a Bear"

Jason Carter, "Three Sisters and a Bear," 2012, acrylic on canvas, 30” x 60”.

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"Castle Mountain"

Jason Carter, "Castle Mountain," 2012, acrylic on canvas, 16” x 20”.

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"Bear Family Canmore"

Jason Carter, "Bear Family Canmore," 2012, acrylic on canvas, 22” x 28”.

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JASON CARTER

Bearclaw Gallery — $300 to $5,000

Edmonton

By Maureen Latta

“ There are no rules when it comes to birds.” Jason Carter is speaking about his carvings, but the statement seems to epitomize this Alberta artist’s general stance towards life. A singular artist who had to invent a term to describe his style – Abstract Contemporary Aboriginal Pop Art – Carter was bold enough to hold an exhibition of dog portraiture earlier this year and invite his models to the opening, including an Irish wolfhound he says was almost as big as a horse. Carter paints, carves soapstone, illustrates children’s books and runs his own Canmore gallery. He’s also created a permanent installation at the Edmonton International Airport called Old Man Mountain with Great Mother Bear.

“Jason is an artist who’s at the beginning of his career,” says Jackie Bugera, owner of the Bearclaw Gallery. She describes Carter as one of the hardest-working artists she knows. “He’s had so many accomplishments and accolades. He’s moving quickly, certainly as one of Alberta’s top artists, but also in the direction of his work being collected nationally and internationally.”

Carter trained in Edmonton – taking graphic communications at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and digital arts at Grant MacEwan University – and is influenced by Andy Warhol, the Woodlands School of aboriginal art, and stories from elders in his Little Red River Cree Nation, east of High Level in northern Alberta. Traditional characters become angular soapstone carvings, which, in turn generate acrylic paintings notable for their simplicity of line and blocks of colour. His work has been exhibited at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, and he was the featured artist at Alberta House on Alberta Day at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.