A unique artist’s work will be on display at Bucks County Community College later this year, with all welcome to come and see the exhibit.

“Karl Carter: A Retrospective”, the first major gallery survey of Mr. Carter’s work, will open at Hicks Art Center Gallery on Nov. 2 and will continue through Dec. 16. An accompanying exhibition of Karl’s renowned students’ works will be installed in the Atrium Gallery in Hicks Art Center.

Spanning the last 40 years, the works in the exhibition range from biomorphic abstract wood and art glass sculptures toexuberantly colored functional tablewareand lighting. Clifford Eberly, Exhibitions Associate at Hicks Art Center Gallery, and curator of the show, spoke about the upcoming show. 

“His moststriking accomplishment is blending subtle and pronounced colors to produce exquisite objects that reveal emotions captured in glass- which we now know is a unique form of matter. Karl has gainedexpertise in almost all facets of glass blowing and production whichdemonstrates his tenacious commitment to being curious.”

Inspired by the founders and teachers ofthe American Studio Glass movement like Harvey Littleton and Dominick Labino, Carter continually returns to his initialattraction to the movement to make pieceswhere form follows function. For instance,to create a dynamic pattern of straight andjagged lines, Carter devised a method toshape and flatten the sides of the glassvessel to better illustrate therepresentation. Carter states, “Early on inmy education I was told I approached mywork as a concept artist. Though I don’ttackle larger concepts such as politics, I dofind ideas that interest me and then workthrough them—for example, how thechemistry of color in glass works orexploring undulating forms in nature.”

A Yardley resident, Carter attended Pennsbury High School, received his B.S. in Industrial Design from the University of the Arts and his M.S. in Learning Technologies from Drexel University. A true personification of the “lifelong learner,” Carter regularly enrolls in glass courses and workshops such as Torchmaking to expand and fine tune his craft.

In addition to the exhibition of objects, a video including interviews with Carter, his students and colleagues conducted by Clifford Eberly will be shown on the gallery video monitor.

An opening reception will be held on Nov. 3 from 4-7 PM, which is free and open to the public. Carter will give a short artist talk to introduce the exhibition at 4:15 PM.

Gallery hours throughout the exhibition will be Monday – Friday, 9 AM – 4 PM and Saturdays 11 AM – 4 PM.