Carter Ernst
Carter Ernst was born in Oklahoma in 1953; her family settled in Corpus Christi, Texas in the ‘60s. Carter earned her BFA in painting at the University of Houston in 1976 and later returned to UH to complete an MFA in sculpture.
Carter is married to sculptor Paul Kittelson. They live in Houston, Texas, and spend their summer months in the Black Hills of Dakota. They share a mutual sense of humor and appreciation for the outdoors.
The natural world colliding with humanity’s present imprint on the planet is at the crux of Carter’s art. Fauna and flora are transformed into odd hybrids of natural and artificial, real and imagined. Potentially disappearing species become playfully distorted before evolving into fable. Whether feral or domesticated, the sculptures serve as metaphorical talismans with the power to humor and heal wounded spirits.
