Born in Hutchinson, Kansas, Gary Carter is a realist painter and sculptor of the contemporary and historic American West including cowboy's, mountain men, Indians and the landscape where they live or lived.

Many of his childhood trips were with his father backpacking in the Sierra Mountains of California. He served in the Army, and then earned a BFA degree with honors from the Art Center College of Design* in Los Angeles. He had moved to California with his family when his father took a job with Walt Disney productions.

From 1971-1972, he was the in-house illustrator for a California design studio, but a sell-out show in 1973 of his own art persuaded him to become a full-time painter. In 1978, he won Best of Show at a Montana Historical Society exhibition.

He paints the landscape and wild animals of a remote area of Montana where he lives with his wife, Marlys, near the West Entrance of Yellowstone Park. His former bunkhouse studio, where he acquired much insight into the life of the cowboy, is several miles from his home at Sun Ranch.

In 1982, Gary Carter was elected to membership of the Cowboy Artists of America*, and in 1986, served as President. In CAA annual exhibitions, he received a Gold award for Drawing and Other Media in 1990 and 1997.

In 1991, he was adopted by the Crow Tribe and the Real Bird Family, and, made a member of the Big Lodge Clan, given an Indian name of "Eagle Man." This adoption occurred at a Pow-Wow on the Crow reservation at Medicine Tail Coulee near Hardin, Montana, at a redesignation of the Little Horn Battlefield.

Sources:
"Gary Carter", Cowboy Artists of America 2009, 44th Annual Exhibition, Phoenix Art Museum
Artist Files of the Phoenix Art Museum Library

* For references for these terms and others, see AskART Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx

Gary Lee Carter
March 12, 1939 — January 31, 2025
West Yellowstone

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Gary Lee Carter, cherished friend to horses, hot rods, countless friends and beloved family members, succumbing to Alzheimer’s on January 31st, 2025. Gary was 85 years old.

An emeritus member, and former president of the Cowboy Artists of America (CAA), Gary’s love of Western American lore and history produced a prolific career of oil paintings and sculptures depicting his vision of the American West, often with a wry sense of humor, that spanned a career over 50 years long.

Gary is survived by his wife Marlys, Son Jeff (Lisa), Daughter Suzanne Carter-Horton (Huff), Granddaughters Bronwyn Evans (Alex), Kaitlyn Cluff (Devin), Jillian Carter and Camrynn Carter as well as 8 great grandchildren and Nephews Jack and Mike and their whole Carter Clan.

Gary was preceded in death by Father Phil, Mother Louise and his Brother Jack who together with Gary created a print company publishing nearly a hundred lithographs of Gary’s Western Art covering subjects ranging from Cowboys and Cavalry to Railroads and Northern Plains Indian life.

Born in Hutchinson Kansas, March 12th 1939, Gary graduated Palm Springs High School in 1958, trained crews to operate the HAWK missile system in the Army, then graduated Art Center College of Design working as an illustrator in San Diego until Western Art took him first to Tucson then to Montana where his love of the landscapes and the people provided the material for much of his work, including the Montana Centennial commemorative painting. Gary felt so honored being adopted into the Realbird family of the Crow Indian Nation near Hardin in 1991.

A resident of West Yellowstone, Gary loved fly fishing, pack-trips, hot-rodding, helping friends, and all things “Cowboy”. Gary had a generous sense of humor and a kindness for people, finding great joy in helping people, even serving as a Sunday school teacher and later as a Bishop in the LDS church in the late 1990’s.

Gary had many roles, titles and honors throughout his life, but his favorite was “dad” and “grandpa”, the title that those who loved him best called him. Gary’s great gift of seeing the beauty in life and capturing it on canvas is a beautiful legacy passed down to his children, granddaughters, nephews and nieces. His wit, wry smiles, laughter, affectionate nicknames made time spent with this beloved man unforgettable. He will be missed most of all by his dear wife and family.

Source: Obituary from Dahl Funeral & Cremation Website

Submitted by: Kevin Doyle

A realist oil painter and sculptor of historical Northwestern scenes, Carter was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1939 and is currently living in West Yellowstone, Montana.

"My family started migrating during the Cherokee Strip land rush and settled in with the Kiowa. My folks started their migrating not too long after I made my debut. Seems like I've been rambling ever since. I have spent many of the happiest hours of my life packing with my father in search of another Kansan. The dreams and memories of their West have filled my mind with paintings. . . . Started packing when I was five years old. I loved school because if I did well, I had three months on the east slops of the Sierras. That was before the Sierra Club had to protect the environment."

After unloading grocery trucks and serving in the Army, Carter went to the Art Center College in Los Angeles where his realism and Western subject matter were accepted. He then had one year as an illustrator before a one-person show of his Western paintings sold out in Tucson, Arizona. He moved to Tucson and turned to art full-time when he was 33.

The historical subjects that he paints come from his reading and the southwestern Montana valley where he now lives. He composes the paintings on the basis that "if this had happened, it should have been this way." He works every weekday, "from the time he gets up until he gets tired," and likes to paint outdoors where the results are "loose and fresh." In 1978, Carter won Best of Show at the Montana Historical Society, and the following year he was a founding member of the Northwest Rendezvous Group.


Resource:
Contemporary Western Artists, by Peggy and Harold Samuels 1982, Judd's Inc., Washington, D.C.