Debra Carter is a Nova Scotia-based ceramic sculptor.

She received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Dalhousie University in 1983 and is a current BFA student in Ceramics at NSCAD University. She delves into the inner workings of our humanity and nature, and celebrates these observations through figurative and abstracted pieces.

Working with traditional earth clay, Carter uses hand-shaping techniques to change the clay’s properties. Human-size and holdable-size sculptures with luring surfaces emerge.

The imaginative, yet unpredictable, results of the clay contribute to these visceral and tranquil forms. By leaving some seams of the thickly applied outer layers visible, the spirit of the clay and the means of the making are partly revealed.

This melding of the clay’s pent-up energy with Carter’s clash of mark-making reveals her interpretations of our inside world, our communal oneness, and our spiritual connection to our planet.