George Carlson

George Carlson, a native of Illinois, studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Arizona. He has had solo exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of Natural History, Indianapolis Museum of Fine Art, the Autry National Center, the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles and most recently, a major retrospective at the Denver Art Museum in 2007.

Internationally, Carlson’s work has been featured at the Hakone Open Air Museum, Tokyo, Japan; America Haus, Berlin, Germany; Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia; Kyoto World Exposition of Historic Cities, Japan; and the Peking Exhibit, Beijing, China.

Frequently commissioned for both private and corporate works, Carlson has created four sculptural portrait busts for actor Bill Cosby. Among his monumental public outdoor sculptures are “The Greeting” at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado; “I’m The Drum,” Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; “Of One Heart,” Outdoor Museum of Art, Englewood, Colorado; “The Greeting,” Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis; “Early Day Miner,” Washington Park, Denver, Colorado; “Hopi Girls,” New Mexico Museum of Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico; and “Paul Robeson,” Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio.

The recipient of numerous prestigious awards and honors, Carlson received the Idaho Governor’s Award of Excellence in the Arts in 1996. The University of Idaho honored Carlson with an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree. Carlson has been profiled in many books and publications as well as the PBS film series entitled “Profiles in American Art.” His work is included in some of the most significant public and private collections in America.