CARSON FERRI-GRANT
Artist Statement:
The Arts transcend all cultural barriers, hopefully offering an avenue where all people can find a common place to meet, understand each other, and nurture a safe world for all our children to grow strong within.
Artist Bio:
Born 12-17-1950, raised in Rhode Island, has created characters and stories in visual mediums as drawings, paintings, in films and on stage. At ten he teamed up with his playmate Susan to create children's theater/variety shows in the family's garage attic, where he directed, art directed and acted in productions performed with and for the neighborhood children. During his grammar school years, he designed the themed showcases displays and painted murals reflecting the seasons.
Expressing his visual perspective, Ferri-Grant painted large oil canvases and constructed many art installations in alternative exhibition spaces as part of the 1970s East Village Art movement. Recognized for excellence by Leo Castelli, Carson's installation of living sand sculptures "Coney Island Bathing Beauties" in the "The Coney Island Art Show 1981," and his triptych "In Life Turmoil" in the famed "Time Square Show" gained notoriety.
His one-man exhibition called "Nature-Nuclear" 1979 provoked quite a stir when he constructed a large climb-up-into "scarred Mother Earth Uterus" - post nuclear with her next distorted generation traveling down her maimed fallopian tubes into her contaminated womb (30' x 40'), encouraged the viewer to consider alternative energy sources to protect our environment. (Times: 11-30-79)
The seventies brought an awareness of our environment, pollution and nuclear waste contamination (3 mile Island & Chernobyl). For two summers, Carson hitch-hiked and walked the entire USA photographing damaged natural reserves. Marching with the Sioux Indian in South Dakota, as part of the "No-Nukes" concert tour 1979 MUSE, Carson returned to NYC to establish an award-winning not-for-profit organization, Environmental Artists United (EAU), sponsored by "Avon" and "America the Beautiful Fund" Foundations, which promotes art educational exhibits focusing on our environment and conservation.
One honored exhibition "Four Elements: Fire-Wind-Earth-Water" for "Earthday 1980" received special attention from American Express during the now famous event. Carson was one of the founders of "The West Side Arts Coalition", NYC, helping to preserve the Upper Westside artistry, neighborhood, the Symphony Space, and actively "worked-the-soil" to create the Westside and the Riverside Park Community Gardens. As an adjunct faculty member of College of New Rochelle, Carson aided the efforts to bring Rosa Parks to the renamed Harlem campus.
Wanting to paint in the new electronic technology of the 80s, Carson attended and taught at Pratt University, New York City to enhance his knowledge of computer graphics and digital editing. He worked with innovative companies, as an animator/cg artist/editor/programmer helping to form the late 1980-90s advancements in computer graphic applications using AT&T- NASA software, creating formats for the premier of CD-Rom and Internet technology, which applied many color principles Carson helped to develop with a team of artists for NYC companies as: Fusion, Advanced Graphics, Exhibit Technologies, Carabineer, Kodak, and Ogilvy-Mathers.
Painting on the computer tablet, Carson created animations for the "Sony's Time Square Video Board". The Ayer Advertising campaign "Breakthrough with the Unexpected" animation of an egg cracking to release a butterfly, captured Ad Week's (2-25-91) and business' imagination in CGA as a profitable advertising tool. IBM, Intel, Kodak, DeBeers, Shell and American Express followed suit by asking Carson to create animations for their multi-media identities and exhibitions. National Geographic's "Interactive Gallery" gave the "Global Access" to many of Carson's images and animations.
In the new millennium approaching 2008, Carson has explored further the new digital medium by designing websites for film industry, corporate identities, media advertising, film posters and book covers, as well as continuing traditional media as painting, photography, and sculpting. (http://imdb.com/name/nm0335300/bio)
Education:
RI School of Design
Hunter College
Pratt Institute
University of Connecticut
Parsons School of Design
Columbia University
Awards:
Recommended by his art teacher, at twelve years old Carson attended Saturday classes at Rhode Island School of Design where figure drawing and painting nurtured his talents. As a young artist, he was a recipient of the “RI Gold Key Artisan award”.
For the SIGGRAPH - 1990 convention, Texas, Carson constructed inside the old railroad station, a walk-under suspended cellophane and plastic 3-D hologram mountain installation "Harmony Mountain" (100' x 100') to harness and directed peaceful energy through a twenty foot, five point 'Texas Star Vortex' hung between the massive exterior columns of the Dallas train station, to help project positive energies to the historically tarnished 'Dallas promenade and book depository' and to honor JFK's memory. Carson was awarded the “SIGGRAPH Award of Vision in Art”- Texas Star.
In 2007, Carson was the recipient of the GIAA: “Italian American Heritage Award” for the portrayal of positive images to the Italian American culture and commitment of excellence.
Affiliations:
West Side Community Garden
NYC Screen Actors Guild
Broadway Mall Association, NYC
Actors Equity Association
Environmental Artists United, NYC
AFTRA and GIAA
Contact:
Email: carsongrant AT yahoo.com
Website: www.CarsonGrant.com
