IWU News

Letter Bundle, mixed media construction, 1999

IWU Wakeley Gallery presents Skins and Wrappers

December 14, 2004

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University’s Wakeley Gallery will present Skins and Wrappers, featuring the artwork of Carol Ann Carter. The exhibit, in conjunction with the Contemporary Kiln-Glass exhibition in the Merwin Gallery at IWU, will run from Jan. 13 through Feb.10, 2005.

Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 12:00-4:00 p.m., Tuesday evening 7:00-9:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 1:00-4:00 p.m. The opening reception for both exhibits will take place Thursday, Jan. 13 from 4:00-6:00 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

Carter’s initial medium was intaglio printmaking, however she has since moved into mixed media construction in painting, fiber and sculpture. Her work contains such materials as buttons, sequins, wood, twine, remnants of clothing, paintings, letters and lists, among many other random objects. Carter is said by critics to “evoke a primal reminiscence of the mystical past of man.” In the early 1980s she spent time in Nigeria, which influenced her mind and transformed her artwork. Carter says of her work that, “Art, as I experience and practice it, is always to some degree identity-based. My works are a reflection on what I consider to be significant personal and cultural background material.”

A native of Indianapolis, Ind., Carter received her B.F.A. degree from the Herron School of Art of Indiana University, and her M.F.A. from the University of Notre Dame. She has received numerous awards, including the National Endowment Individual Artist Award, the Lilly Foundation Open Faculty Fellowship for sabbatical research in Nigeria, the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral for Minorities Fellowship, and the J.W. Fulbright Fellowship for research in Stockholm, Sweden.

Carter, who has held teaching positions at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., Penn State University, and the University of Michigan, currently teaches at the University of Kansas. Her work has been featured nationally and internationally, in both private and public collections, and is represented by the G.R. N’Namdi Galleries in New York City, Detroit, Michigan, and Chicago.

For more information, contact Jennifer Lapham, director of the Merwin and Wakeley Galleries, 309/556-3391.