Jason Carter / Visual Artist
Jason Carter is an Indigenous sculptor, painter, illustrator and public artist from the Little Red River Cree Nation. He grew up in Edmonton and is a graduate of both NAIT and MacEwan University (where he was awarded a Distinguished Alumni in 2017), and was the only Alberta artist to have his own solo show at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He has major permanent installations in both the Calgary & Edmonton International Airports, and both sculpture and canvas artwork in many public places (NAC, AFA, YWCA Calgary, Travel Alberta, Wood Buffalo Region, Stantec, Banff Caribou Properties, Canada Goose), and private collections globally.
Jason has illustrated 5 children’s books and created & installed The World Of Boo for the Art Gallery of Alberta in 2015. He created permanent murals for the Amiskwaskahegan (Beaver Hills Park) in Edmonton and was one of three artists part of the LRT/SOUTH Extension beautification project. In February 2019, he was featured on Property Brothers on HGTV. Many schools in and around Alberta and Canada are currently studying Jason Carter and his body of work and he could not be more humbled by this.
In 2019, Jason was commissioned by the Museum of Aboriginal Peoples’ Art and Artifacts of Canada to create a 2 x 79” x 29” & 58” x 29” painting permanently installed in the museum’s entrance, as well that same year, he installed ‘Dancing Bears’ into the new YW Calgary Hub Family Facility in Calgary.
In 2020, Jason was the lead sculpture artist for ‘In Search of Christmas Spirit’; an immersive sculpture exhibit where he created 12’ - 18’(H) sculptures of bears, wolves and bison that were lit from within like a lantern, an initiative he worked alongside Banff Lake Louise Tourism and Parks Canada on. Most recently, in March of 2021, another large scale in Edmonton, an immersive exhibit with over 8 10’ (H) lantern-like rabbit sculptures called wâpos at Amiskwaskahegan Park - an exhibit intended to bring hope, humour and spirit to those who walked through the park.
Jason Carter is currently represented by The Bearclaw Gallery in Edmonton and The Town Square Gallery in Oakville Ontario. In 2012 he opened his own gallery - The Carter-Ryan Gallery - with Bridget Ryan in Canmore, and in 2017 he opened another Carter-Ryan Gallery in Banff, Alberta. Jason is a member of the Little Red River Cree Nation and he paints and/or carves seven days a week.
Bridget Ryan / Creative Director & Producer
Bridget Ryan is an actor, singer, playwright, director, and television host in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She graduated from MacEwan Theatre Arts program (and in 2008 was awarded Distinguished Alumni) and then went on to graduate from University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music with a BFA in Musical Theatre. Upon completion, she moved to New York City, performing at several Off-Broadway theatres such as at The Cherry Lane Theatre and The Present Company. She has performed in several national tours before getting off the stage to work alongside some of Broadway’s most influential producers Richard Frankel, Darryl Roth and Scott Rudin.
Bridget has performed at theatres all over Canada and written four full length musicals including The Winters Tale Project and Wedlocked: The Musical (both with Chris Wynters) and the plays Myles, The HypoAllergenic Superhero and His Superhero Friends, Counting Americans and SuperWoman to name a few and has been published by the Playwrights Guild of Canada. She returned to Edmonton in 2001, where she became Co-Host of CityTV’s Breakfast Television thru May 2015, when it rebranded as 'Dinner Television'. In 2010, she was named Woman of the Year by the CCA's in Edmonton. Bridget has proudly MC'd and hosted hundreds of events in Edmonton (and surrounding areas) over the past 13 years and is proud to be a part of such an amazing community. Bridget has written four children’s book to date: WHO IS BOO: 1, 2 AND 3 (illustrated by Jason Carter) as well as Urban Animals.
In winter of 2012, Bridget and visual artist Jason Carter opened up The Carter-Ryan Gallery and Live Art Venue in Canmore Alberta on Main Street, a place where art and live performance exist happily under the same roof. Jason Carter and Bridget Ryan started Rabbit In The Yard Productions , a multi-media production company that produces short films and music video’s and most recently, she created and produced the Fairmont Banff Spring’s The Art Of Waiting campaign May 2020.
In the summer of 2017, Carter-Ryan Productions came to full fruition where she wrote, directed and produced Canada The Musical, ROCK STARS and The Adventures of the Curious Bear In The Red Canoe in Banff and Canmore and Banff Alberta. Since then, thousands of locals and tourists from around the world have taken in Canada The Musical and ROCK STARS each summer in both Canmore (at the Carter-Ryan Live Theatre Venue) and Banff. Also in 2017, Bridget adapted and directed a five person version of Christmas Carol which plays every year at Fairmont Banff Springs Theatre.
Bridget created and directed ‘The Art of Waiting’ Campaign for the Fairmont Properties during lockdown in May 2020. In December 2020 & 2021, Bridget was Creative Director (story, sound, and sculpture build) for Banff Lake Louise Tourism for their Banff Christmas Trail, ‘In Search Of Christmas Spirit’.