Artist's Statement

Todd Carter's fascination with glass commenced in 1984, when he began training with an Austrian master lamp worker, Wolfgang R. Eberhart, in his Windsor, Ontario studio. Wolf's studio was a hive of 'old world' glass activity, with multiple disciplines being utilized in producing wonderful results in glass, extending from laboratory glassware to glass sculptures depicting Arctic Indian ways of life.

Beginning with instruction in neon display lighting and its kinetic ability to shape color and define space, Todd quickly discovered the almost limitless potential and power of the material, and he set out to learn all that he could. Scientific glassblowing, where art meets science in the creation of incredibly precise laboratory glassware, was his next discipline to acquire. The apprenticeship under Eberhart was reinforced with an Associates Degree in Scientific Glassblowing at Salem College under the instruction of Joseph Luisi.

From 1989 to 2000, Todd co-owned Visual Emotions Ltd., a neon studio and gallery with a flair for the innovative use of neon in works of art as well as in commercial advertising. In 2000, he transferred into a position with the University of Alberta to exploit his scientific glassblowing skills, facing the daily challenges of providing necessary glassware to scientists and researchers in the pursuit of answers in medical and technological research. In the spring of 2010 the Carter family once again did a cross country move to the coastal city of Halifax Nova Scotia where Todd  now works for the Chemistry Department of Dalhousie University.

Carter Glass Works is the home studio where Todd utilizes all of the combined techniques he has garnered over the years in his latest pursuit of form over function in the creation of sculptural glassware. Here he is able to display all of the wonderful properties he has discovered in glass: from the ultimately passive nature of clear glass in its tendency to display the elements surrounding itself rather than itself, to the boldness of luminescent colored glass that fills a room with energy, his work invites you to share in the discovery of the strength, delicacy, and timeless nature of glass.

Almost 30 years later he is still learning and is quite convinced he would need another lifetime or two to really discover the fullness of this medium. Nevertheless, the practice and refinement of techniques both new and old can be clearly seen in the inspiring creations which he makes.