The William King Museum of Art in Abingdon, Virginia has just opened a retrospective on the late South-western Virginia visionary artist, Fred J. Carter.

Fred Carter: Primitive Things of Toil and Love 

Opening Reception: August 3, 2017 from 6 - 8 p.m.

July 28 - January 14, 2018

Born in Duffield, Virginia, in 1911, Fred Carter grew up in the rugged coal country of Wise County, moving first to Norton as a boy and later to Clintwood, where he lived out the remainder of his life. Growing up inundated by news of the Great Depression and the Harlan County Miner’s Strike had a profound impact on Carter’s views as an adult, views which were given voice, powerfully, through his work. Though he did not begin making art until later in his life, once tapped, the vast well of Carter’s creativity flowed swiftly. He would spend the next thirty years, right up until his death, giving form to his beliefs in stonework, poetry, short stories, painting, and, of course, woodcarving. Carter displayed many of his works in his Cumberland Museum, the door of which was adorned with the simple message, “Primitive Things of Toil and Love.” This exhibit celebrates the life, legacy, and work of Fred Carter, one of Southwest Virginia’s finest visionary artists.

Fred Carter was featured in our 2011 exhibit,  Appalachian Visionaries  and the American Visionary Art Museum's 2014 show,  Human, Soul & Machine: The Coming Singularity!.