In an area teeming with personality and character, we will be featuring 10 select influencers that are leaving their mark on the Northern Virginia region. Spotlights will be featured on a weekly basis and will range in industry from authors and performers to tech giants and unique business owners.
David Carlson has always been creative and curious, and it is these qualities that made a career in the visual arts a no-brainer for him.
In his prolific 40-year career, Carlson has had numerous shows, 10 of which were solos in the Northern Virginia region. His works, which range from abstract painting to video, have reached international recognition, with exhibitions in Uzbekistan, Senegal and the Netherlands, to name a few.
Carlson moved to the Falls Church area in 1984; now, however, he calls Arlington home. One of the many characteristics that kept him rooted in Northern Virginia was its richly diverse population. “There is a strong international element that has given me many opportunities to experience cultures different from my own,” he says—an element he values for both his personal and artistic growth.
Alongside his own creative pursuits, Carlson is an active member of the community. He has been an art professor at Marymount University for more than 30 years, which he views as an irreplaceable and very mutual learning experience. “Even though I am the teacher, it seems many times I am the student,” Carlson says. “I see in their work the same creative struggle that I have in my own studio. … I am always reminded of where I came from.”
Carlson also serves as a commissioner and adviser for the Arlington Arts Commission, which he credits with helping him become more involved with the local art community. As much as he was able to grow independently as an artist in Northern Virginia, Carlson is aware of the significance of a peer support system. “I think it is very important for artists to have community that can feed each other ideas and challenges,” he says.
In keeping with this notion, Carlson and other fellow artists are founders of the activism group Take Me to the River, a nonprofit that seeks to connect individuals across cultures and ethnicities through the medium of art, by embracing differences and acknowledging similarities. “It has been so interesting to work with artists who I cannot understand due to differences in our language, and yet we understand each other perfectly through our art,” Carlson notes. “TMTTR has brought us together as a band of diverse personalities working to bring cultures together.”
His most memorable exhibit is also his most recent one, which ended July 8 at the Fred Schnider Art Gallery in Ballston. In addition to his Out of My Mind pieces serving as the gallery’s debut exhibit, Carlson played a pivotal advising role in the opening of the establishment.
But its significance is also due to the gallery’s ultimate contribution to the NoVA art scene. “[I liked the idea of] building a foundation for the Fred Schnider Gallery to grow into a strong commercial space that will serve artists and collectors in a meaningful way,” he says.
Carlson is eager to bring his newest video project out into the public, ideally in one of the many local art galleries. Invention/Translation–Messages is a two-year effort consisting of seven different audio stylings, including a capella, tango music, contemporary compositions, poets and a singer. Like every new project, this one is a reflection of his continuing mission to understand “the connection of all things,” a Buddhist principle Carlson takes to heart in all he does: in his art and his community.
But at the end of the day, the constant evolution of his artistic vision wouldn’t be possible without that endless creativity and curiosity. “[Being an artist] is just as valid as any other discipline. This approach is a way to process information, creating ideas that communicate in a nonverbal format. … How an artist thinks, creates using nonverbal communication is unique and employs techniques that could be utilized by many.” // davidcarlsonart.com