Barbara Carter
Barbara Carter was born in Stuttgart Germany in 1953. At age six her mother took her to the Stuttgart Jugendhaus, where there were many different art workshops. Pottery, woodworking, weaving, Batik and more. All through her life in Stuttgart afternoons were spent there once a week or more.
She attended first the Hoelderlingymnasium in Stuttgart (emphasis on Latin and humanities) and then the Wirtschaftsgymnasium (business) and graduated with the Abitur (international bachelor’s degree) in 1972. After graduation marriage to an American Officer brought her to the US. In 1973, she attended the University of Louisville and graduated in 1974 with a degree in German with the intention to teach. The need to help make a living and her credits from Germany made it possible to get her degree in 1 ½ years.
The first employment was in a frame shop but once all the backed up framing work was done the job was gone as well. In 1976, the marriage ended in divorce and Barbara worked as a teller at a local bank. In 1978, Barbara began working for Xerox corporation as a sales rep. at this time, Xerox began its decline because of competition from Japanese companies. Having met John Michael Carter and the decision to get married allowed her to leave Xerox and pursue her art projects while working as a substitute teacher. She had taken a workshop on oriental rug weaving and was also repairing Oriental rugs for Fran Jasper Oriental rugs and taking art classes at the university of Louisville. She also got a teaching certificate.
January 1979 John Michael Carter and Barbara were married. Barbara continued working as a substitute teacher until the birth of their daughter Hannah in 1981. 1983 Stewart followed. In the late 80’s Barbara received her masters degree and taught German at the University of Louisville until 1998.
In the late 90’s Barbara taught herself how to water gild. At first all the work was done in the basement. After a few years, a Cuban carver was hired and a person to sand. Labor costs made the frames expensive and it was hard to make a profit. In 2000, Barbara went with a friend, to China. She was introduced to a factory that made her frames until 2011. The price of gold and higher labor costs meant a 50% price increase in frame prices. Barbara decided to sell out and go back to gilding for her husband only. She is presently working on her own artistic endeavor, a print.
To learn more about this author visit www.barbaracarterfineart.com