Allen 'Big Al' Carter

Allen Dester Carter (June 29, 1947 – December 18, 2008), known as 'Big Al' Carter, was an Alexandria, Virginia artist and public school art teacher in Washington, D.C.

When profiled by The Washington Post Magazine in May 2006,

Education Carter received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio in 1972, and returned to Washington to do post-graduate work and teach at American University. In 1995, he received an honorary Master of Fine Arts degree, also from the Columbus College of Art and Design.

Exhibitions During his life, Carter exhibited widely in galleries and museums - usually around the Mid Atlantic in Virginia; the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, NC; and the Alexandria Black History Museum in Alexandria, VA. Soon after his death, a retrospective of his works was staged at Vanderbilt University's Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy.

Carter's artworks are in permanent collections at the Smithsonian Museum commemorating the 200th anniversary of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Awards Carter was awarded the Kansas City key to the city,

A 1990 New York Times review said his paintings "suggest boundless, uncontrollable freedom . . . complex world of reality, dream and art."