| The following was submitted in November of 2006 by the artist: Born on September 4, 1934, in Postville, Iowa, he has lived and worked in Pennsylvania most of his adult life. A painter, sculptor and educator, Carroll creates
proposals/plans/topograpic views of works to be built. He uses handmade paper, oil markers, oil sticks, and whiteout. He also uses bi-fold and single doors, doorjambs, fir/poplar/birch and mahogany, linen and door hardware.
Permanent Collections:
Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA; Penn State Berks Campus, Reading, PA; Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA; Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA; St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s City, MD and in private and public collections.
Special Awards:
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, visual arts grant, 2005
National Endowment for the Arts, visual arts grant, 1980
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2005 Tompkins Gallery, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA
2004 Rosefsky Gallery, Binghamton University, NY
1999 Open Studio, New Works, Kutztown, PA
1997 Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA
1996 Open Studio, Selected Works on Paper, Kutztown, PA
1977 112 Workshop, Inc., 112 Greene Street, New York City, NY
1977 Lehman College Gallery, City University of New York, Bronx, NY
Selected Invitational Exhibitions:
2002 Reading Area Community College, Works on Paper, Reading, PA
2000 Cedar Crest College, Art Gallery, Paper Forms, Allentown, PA
2000 MCS Gallery, Regional Show, Easton, PA
2000 Maria Feliz Gallery, Jim Thorpe, PA
1997 Muhlenberg College, selection from their collection, Allentown, PA
Selected Juried Exhibitions:
2006 William Center Gallery, Lafayette College, “Meraviglia: Innovation in the Book Arts”, curator Liz Mitchell
2003 The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA 36th Annual juried exhibition: “ Art of the State Pennsylvania 2003”, juror Mary Yess.
2002 Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA, 35th Annual juried exhibition: “ Art of the State – Pennsylvania 2002”, juror David Ambrose
2002 Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA 28th Annual Juried Art Show, juror: Hugh M. Davies
1998 The Opera House, Jim Thorpe, Sacred Mountain Annual Juried Art Show
1998 Banana Factory, Bethlehem, PA, Passion for Pulp, juror: Suellen Glashausser
1997 Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA, Drawings on Paper and Off, juror: Linda Weintraub
Memberships:
American Association of Museums, Lehigh Valley Council on the Arts, Berks Art Council, College Art Association.
In the 80’s my work started to emulate for the first time from marks on 8 ½ x 11 sheets of 20 lb. Bond paper. These works suggested topographic/planographic blue print like floor plans for structures with jambs supporting walls of single, bi-fold and hanging painted doors painted. Colors are randomly selected. Marks are dictated by the template, which has been generated by transferring previous acetate templates, employing a process that completes itself. Nine wood structures were built between 1985 and 1992, which can function as part of an environment, an installation or part of another building, maybe one built in bronze and painted.
My first work on handmade paper from White Crow Paper Mill was on an 84” x 84” sheet given to me in 1989. Because of the way the paper was made it could not be folded or rolled, as it could not support itself, making storage almost impossible. After a number of sheets of this size I decided not to use any sheet of paper over 16 square feet.
In 1992 I started to include work on 9 x 12 x ¼ inch sheets of handmade paper, which became the base for my works of marks, germs, thoughts up to the present. The process is to integrate the incredible beauty of the handmade paper into “proposals for structures” to be built. During this decade hundreds of sheets this size were made, as well as larger rectangular sheets, some with grids but all with grommets. It was suggested to the papermakers that they could try any new ideas, techniques or color they had never used before, as I was only concerned with size. Twice in the last fifteen years the 9 x 12 inch works have been photocopied on to acetate and used as templates to recycle old works into new works.
In 1994 I made my first book, which contained 14 pages based on the figure. This was the first time I had used the figure as reference in 30 years.
Two solo exhibitions, in 1997 and 2000, introduced the wall page installations that consisted of using up to maximum of 36 drawings of 9 x 12 inch sheets equaling a 59”w x 77”h page. These 9x12 works have become a text like narrative, with germs that have a resemblance to or with like dates, forming something like a sentence or as ideas and as thoughts shift it can be a new paragraph or a new page.
The works in late 2001-02 were made on conventional commercial paper (Arches Cover White) that I had stored for 20 years.
The work from 2002 to 2004 was on unstretched, 25 ounce, 36” wide cotton canvas purchased in the 70’s. These works with grommets continued the narrative of a “structure to be built”.
In 2004-2005 through a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant I again was able to purchase materials and supplies, which is the impetus for the works shown in the fall of 2005 at the Tompkins Gallery at Cedar Crest College in Allentown. The exhibition included a structure, the first since 1992, new paintings on linen canvas, new spheres, and new installation of pages using 9x12 sheets of handmade paper.
On hindsight the handmade paper has become an oasis of my work from the 90‘s to the present.
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