1986: Master of Fine Arts, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC
1981: Bachelor of Arts Special - Visual Arts and Design, University of Alberta AB
2008: Stories from the Inner City, Latitude 53, Edmonton
2004: Feature Artist Art Rental & Sales Gallery, The Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton
2004: Water Logged, Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton
2002: High & Low, Harcourt House Art Centre, Edmonton
2000: I AM, The Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton
1999: Building Bridges, Prairie Art Gallery, Grande Prairie
1998: Ninety Nine, SNAP Gallery, Edmonton
1997: Urban Totem Poles, The Works, Edmonton
1997: PIRATES OF ART, The Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton
1996: Reinterpreting the Classics, Commerce Place Galleria, Edmonton
1992: Urban Revitalization, The Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton
1985: Mostly Birds, A.M.S Gallery, Vancouver
Syncrude Canada Ltd., Edmonton (a 17 art piece mural created for Centre for Intelligent Mining Systems, Computing Science Building, University of Alberta). July 2001
Edmonton Public School Board, Edmonton. (Painting for Virginia Park Elementary School). November 1998Misericordia Art Enrichment Group, Edmonton. (3 mixed media paintings for Speech Pathology, Audiology, and Physical Therapy). December 1997
Bleachers, C.F.B. Namao. (Large mixed media moose head). March 1997
Telus Communications, Edmonton. (Creation of mixed media icons depicting what take place in their work environment). November1996
2006, 2004, 2001: Alberta Foundation for the Arts Project Grant
1993: Medici Art Foundation
1984 -1985: B.C. Binning Memorial Fellowship
1984- 1985: British Columbia Cultural Services Branch Senior Arts Award
C. W. Carson is a multi media artist (photographer, painter, drawer, sculptor, installation artist). He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Alberta, and received a M.F.A. in painting from the University of British Columbia.
Carson has exhibited widely in Alberta, taking part in shows at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Latitude 53, Snap Gallery, Harcourt House Gallery, The Prairie Art Gallery, Douglas Udell Gallery and The Glenbow Museum. Some of the prominent shows in his recent past include “I AM” exhibited at The Art Gallery of Alberta.
Carson’s art deals with visual ‘over indulgence.’ Inspired by popular culture mixed with a dose of high art, Carson tends to work on a small scale complicating rooms. An urban artist with a trap line, rather than collecting bottles and cans, he collects images and stories. Carson deals with crime and grime, sometimes even beauty. Following in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau, Carson is a scientific observer of the minute changes in nature. Unlike Thoreau, his ‘trap line’ is the natural world found in the inner city. He is a visual voyeur. Occasionally even an ‘ambulance chaser’. He collects, filling his pockets with the detritus of a lost civilization. He records.
Carson uses, reuses and abuses content, material and media in the art making process. His art reflects his multifaceted life as a twenty first century white urban gay Canadian.