Dudley Carter was a wood sculptor who made massive sculptures using a double bladed woodsman's axe. He was born to a pioneer family in New Westminster, British Columbia in 1891. Carter's family operated logging camps in the Pacific Northwest, and at age 15 he moved to Alert Bay where he lived among the totem carving Kwakiutl Indians. He spent many years working in the lumbering business as a timber cruiser and forest engineer before he began experimenting with art and sculpture at age 39. Carter continued working as both a woodsman and sculptor for the next forty years. He remained an active sculptor past the age of 100 before his death in 1992. Some of his influential works include "The Ram" and "The Goddess of the Forest."
Documents the carving of a centerpiece sculpture for a Portland, Oregon shopping mall by ninety-year-old Dudley Carter. During the sculpture process, Carter speaks about his upbringing in British Columbia, Canada, and the influence of the Northwest Indian's totem poles on his own work. Carter also talks about the beginning of his career as a soap-carving artist.
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Donor: Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, Burke Museum, September 28, 1916.