Nanette Carter

{{Short description|African-American artist and college educator}}

{{Infobox artist

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Nanette Carter

| birth_name = Nanette Carolyn Carter

| birth_date = {{Birth year|1954}}

| birth_place = Columbus, OH, U.S.

| education = Bachelor of Arts, Oberlin College; Master of Fine Arts, Pratt Institute; Accademia di Belle Arti, Perugia, Italy

| known_for = Abstract Art

| notable_works = Afro Sentinels II
Cantilevered

| website =

}}

Nanette Carolyn Carter, born January 30, 1954, in Columbus, Ohio, is an African-American artist{{cite web|url= https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/yes-black-women-made-abstract-art-too-and-how-a-vital-new-show-makes-clear-1121906|title= Yes, Black Women Made Abstract Art Too, as a Resounding New Show Makes Clear|website= news.artnet.com|date= 20 October 2017|access-date= 2020-02-04|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200204225617/https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/yes-black-women-made-abstract-art-too-and-how-a-vital-new-show-makes-clear-1121906|archive-date= 2020-02-04|url-status= live}} and college educator living and working in New York City, best known for her collages with paper, canvas and Mylar (archival plastic sheets).{{cite web|url=https://wsimag.com/art/36849-an-act-of-balance|title=An Act of Balance Nanette Carter at Skoto Gallery, Manhattan|first=Daniel|last=Gauss|date=9 March 2018 |publisher=|access-date=2020-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204171059/https://wsimag.com/art/36849-an-act-of-balance|archive-date=2020-02-04|url-status=live}}

Daughter of Frances Hill Carter (January 13, 1920 – February 2, 2015) and Matthew G. Carter (October 16, 1913 – March 14, 2012), Nanette and her sister, Bettye Carter Freeman, grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, and graduated from Montclair High School.Major, Gerri. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DVsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38 "Gerri Major's Society World"], p. 38. Jet (magazine), December 19, 1974. Accessed February 6, 2020. "Nanette Carter, a graduate of Montclair (N. J.) High School, daughter of former Mayor and Mrs. Matthew Carter, is studying at the University of Perugia, in Perugia, Italy." Her father served as the city's first African American Mayor (1968-1972),{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/13/archives/montclair-elects-first-negro-to-town-commission.html|title=Montclair Elects First Negro to Town Commission|website=The New York Times|date=13 May 1964 |access-date=2020-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204171057/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/13/archives/montclair-elects-first-negro-to-town-commission.html|archive-date=2020-02-04|url-status=live}} and her mother was an elementary school teacher who also taught dance, later becoming a reading specialist and Vice Principal in the Paterson Public Schools.

Early life

In 1960, Carter's family moved from Ohio to Montclair, New Jersey. A doctor of divinity, her father was also a civil rights leader{{cite web|url= https://obits.nj.com/obituaries/starledger/obituary.aspx?n=matthew-g-carter&pid=156700841|title= Matthew G Carter Obituary|website= obits.nj.com|access-date= 2020-02-05|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181127111256/http://obits.nj.com/obituaries/starledger/obituary.aspx?n=matthew-g-carter&pid=156700841|archive-date= 2018-11-27|url-status= live}} dedicated to social justice and housing reforms{{cite web|url= https://www.tapinto.net/towns/montclair/sections/business-and-finance/articles/matthew-g-carter-apartments-celebrates-40-years-of-affordable-housing-in-montclair/|title= Matthew G. Carter Apartments Celebrates 40 Years of Affordable Housing in Montclair|website= tapinto.net|access-date= 2020-02-05|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191112023059/https://www.tapinto.net/towns/montclair/sections/business-and-finance/articles/matthew-g-carter-apartments-celebrates-40-years-of-affordable-housing-in-montclair|archive-date= 2019-11-12|url-status= live}} and served as Chair of the New Jersey Commission on Civil Rights.

Carter earned a BA from Oberlin College in 1976, majoring in Studio Art and Art History. During her junior year at Oberlin, she lived and studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Perugia, Italy. After graduating, Carter enrolled in Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, where she earned her Master of Fine Arts in 1978.

Career

In 1978, Care began teaching printmaking and drawing at the Dwight-Englewood School, Englewood, New Jersey, while she continued to develop her career as a full-time practicing artist.{{cite web|url= http://nnamdicontemporary.com/artists/nanette-carter-ncm/|title= Nanette Carter|website= nnamdicontemporary.com|access-date= 2020-02-04|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190616025618/http://nnamdicontemporary.com/artists/nanette-carter-ncm/|archive-date= 2019-06-16|url-status= live}}

Since 1981, Carter's professional career in the arts has included extensive lecturing and teaching, conducting workshops, and serving as a panelist and juror for many universities and art institutions. Recent invitations include Bard College, NY (lecture),{{cite web|url= https://www.bard.edu/news/events/event/?eid=135370&date=1542146400|title= Studio Arts Program Presents: Nanette Carter|website= bard.edu}} Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba (lecture), University of Hawaii, Hilo, Hawaii (lecture),{{cite web|url= https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2018/02/01/black-history-month-celebration-at-uh-hilo/|title= Black History Month celebration at UH Hilo|website= hawaii.edu}} Wayne State University, MI (lecture),{{cite web|url= https://today.wayne.edu/news/2004/03/19/wayne-state-university-offers-7th-annual-african-american-art-lecture-series-1|title= Wayne State University offers 7th annual African American Art Lecture Series|website= wayne.edu|date= 15 May 2018}} Concordia College, NY (lecture){{cite web|url= https://www.concordia.ca/cuevents/offices/provost/fourth-space/hosted/2020/02/11/black-history-month-takeover-matinee.html?c=events|title= Black History Month Takeover Matinee|website= concordia.ca}}

Since 2001, Carter has taught drawing at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, where she is a tenured Adjunct Associate Professor.{{cite web|url=https://www.pratt.edu/faculty_and_staff/bio/?id=OGtpS3BQT1Y3b0U4cmU1bkRiZGxRZz09|title=Nanette Carter Faculty Profile|website=pratt.edu}}

Carter's work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions{{cite web |title=Nanette Carter Biography |url=https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Nanette-Carter/76A39D7B197E550C/Biography |website=mutualart.com}} and is represented in over 45 corporate collections in addition to museum, library and university collections, including: The National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba, The Studio Museum,{{cite web |title=Color Collages |url=https://studiomuseum.org/event/lil-studio-67 |website=studiomuseum.org|date=12 September 2017 }} New York, NY, Yale University Art Gallery,{{cite web |title=Yale University Art Gallery Prints and Drawings |url=https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/33736 |website=yale.edu}} New Haven, CT, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, The Brandywine Workshop and Archives,{{cite web |title=Nanette Carter |url=https://brandywineworkshopandarchives.org/product-category/nanette-carter/ |website=brandywineworkshopandarchives.org}} Philadelphia, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, among others.

Creative practice

In a 1984 Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design exhibition, “Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School,” Carter first saw Mylar in use by many of Wright's students. Known today for her collages with paper, canvas and Mylar (archival plastic sheets), Carter's work is recognized for its complex compositions, paintings, and drawings{{cite web|url= https://www.kemperart.org/news/2017/apr/magnetic-fields-expanding-american-abstraction-1960s-today|title= Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today|website= kemperart.org|access-date= 2020-02-05|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191115222129/https://www.kemperart.org/news/2017/apr/magnetic-fields-expanding-american-abstraction-1960s-today|archive-date= 2019-11-15|url-status= live}}

Her work directly responds to contemporary issues around war, injustices, and technology.{{cite web|url= https://blog.nmwa.org/2017/11/16/artist-spotlight-nanette-carter/|title= National Museum of Women in the Arts: Artist Spotlight|website= nmwa.org|access-date= 2020-02-05|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191108022834/https://blog.nmwa.org/2017/11/16/artist-spotlight-nanette-carter/|archive-date= 2019-11-08|url-status= live}} She seeks to address the need for “negotiating the realities of inequality seen around the world{{cite web|url= https://brooklynrail.org/2018/02/artseen/Nanette-Carter|title= NANETTE CARTER:An Act of Balance|website= brooklynrail.org|date= 7 February 2018}}” as evident in her series “Afro-Sentinels II"{{cite web|url= http://www.bellasartes.co.cu/obra/nanette-carter-afro-sentinels-ii-2018|title= Nanette Carter, Afro Sentinels II, 2018|website= bellasartes.co|access-date= 2020-02-04|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200204203809/http://www.bellasartes.co.cu/obra/nanette-carter-afro-sentinels-ii-2018|archive-date= 2020-02-04|url-status= live}} that emanates from the desire to combat racial injustice with a cadre of vigilant guards. A body of recent work, begun in 2013, “Cantilevered”{{cite web|url= http://nnamdicontemporary.com/artists/nanette-carter-ncm/|title= Nanette Carter, N'Namdi Contemporary|website= nnamdicontemporary.com|access-date= 2020-02-04|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190616025618/http://nnamdicontemporary.com/artists/nanette-carter-ncm/|archive-date= 2019-06-16|url-status= live}} becomes a metaphor for 21st Century life, “living with technology advancing every day, forcing one to look at global issues….responsibilities....a deluge of information and history.” In her creative practice for many years, Carter has been dedicated to working with intangible ideas around contemporary issues in an abstract vocabulary of form, line, and color, and to present the mysteries of nature and human nature. She seeks to achieve at the same time luminosity, transparency, and density in her compositions.

Permanent collections (selection)

Nanette Carter's work is included in the permanent collections of museums in the United States and abroad.{{Cite web |title=2021 |url=https://www.anonymouswasawoman.org/2021 |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=Anonymous Was A Woman |language=en-US}}

Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana, Cuba
Pennsylvania Academy of Arts, Philadelphia
Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
Yale University Art Gallery, Connecticut

Awards and honors

Carter has been awarded many honors including the Anonymous Was A Woman Award (2021),{{cite web |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b42673c1aef1dea2e4fa0bd/t/618a74e75d7ceb394b07e8fa/1636463851816/AWAW+2021+RELEASE+-+FINAL.pdf |title= Anonymous Was A Woman Award |date=November 9, 2021|publisher=Anonymous Was A Woman|access-date= November 10, 2021}} The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grant, NY (2014), Artists’ Fellowship Inc. Grant, NY (2013), The Mayer Foundation Grant, NY (2013), Cultural Envoy to Syria, (2007) chosen by the US State Department to represent US at the 7th Annual Women's Art Festival in Aleppo, Syria,{{cite web|url= https://art.state.gov/personnel/nanette_carter/|title= Art in Embassies U.S. Department of State|website= art.state.gov|access-date= 2020-02-04|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200204202714/https://art.state.gov/personnel/nanette_carter/|archive-date= 2020-02-04|url-status= live}} Mudd Library, Oberlin College (2003) Commission, OH,{{cite web|url= https://isis2.cc.oberlin.edu/library/friends/perspectives/29.pdf|title= A Newsletter of the Oberlin College Library|website= oberlin.edu|access-date= 2020-02-04|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200204202715/https://isis2.cc.oberlin.edu/library/friends/perspectives/29.pdf|archive-date= 2020-02-04|url-status= live}} and invitations to be a resident artist at Hydra Art Project (2017), Perugia, Italy{{cite web|url= https://www.montclairlocal.news/2017/07/13/montclair-native-nanette-carter-shows-artwork-italy/|title= Montclair Native Nanette Carter Shows Her Artwork in Italy|website= montclairlocal.news|date= 13 July 2017|access-date= 2020-02-04|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200204225618/https://www.montclairlocal.news/2017/07/13/montclair-native-nanette-carter-shows-artwork-italy/|archive-date= 2020-02-04|url-status= live}} and the Experimental Printmaking Institute (2015), Lafayette College, PA.