My mother's work as an art student at Carnegie Tech in the early 1950s.

When my mother was living in  Morewood Gardens in the early 50s, she woke up to an inch of soot on her windowsill every morning.

In her dorm room, 1950s
© Barbara Boyd Carter /
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Almost midnight, the artist at work with a quill or brush, posing with a cigarette holder for dramatic effect when she liked her Camels straight, a second cigarette in hand, objects and the photo with my dad arranged as a still life. She didn't paint this way. She always rendered pictures on an easel or a board in her lap. 

In her senior year, with my dad away at Fort Bragg, she turned serious about her art. 

For a "House Analysis" project, she went sketching in Oakland. One day, when absorbed in her sketching, a cinderblock landed at her feet, thrown from a bridge.

House Analysis, a printer's guide, 1954, Barbara Boyd Carter

"The places I used to go!"

artist reference photo

Page 2 of "House Analysis"

House Analysis, a printer's guide (pg. 2), 1954, Barbara Boyd Carter

She did this casein of the College Club, formerly the Farrell/Bailey mansion, at 143 No. Craig Street, a few years before it was demolished. I'm looking for a public space for this painting where it will be preserved for years to come.

House in Oakland, Barbara Boyd Carter, 1954
© Barbara Boyd Carter /
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The house appears in a Clyde Hare photo from 1953, to the right of St. Paul's Cathedral.

(Overview: View of Oakland with St. Paul’s Cathedral), Clyde Hare, 1953, Carnegie Museum of Art (link)

Contact: Debbie Carter, VillagerExpat@aol.com, (212) 925-3721, full art portfolio at BarbaraBoydCarter.com, Pittsburgh pictures at this link.