Tom Carter

Tom Carter’s glass art embodies the natural world around Carnelian Bay, the Lake Tahoe shore he calls home. Carter, a native Californian, has spent most of his adult life rock climbing and skiing alpine peaks—both for pleasure and work as a professional mountain guide, avalanche forecaster, and ski patroller. Lately, though, Carter has found himself more in the water than onshore— swimming, paddle boarding, or free diving in Lake Tahoe.

Carter’s mountain-water aesthetic imbues all of his pieces, which are simultaneously bold and delicate. His dedication to the color blue heralds from the enormity of the alpine sky and from below the surface of Lake Tahoe.

Much of his work evolves from an unruly medium: recycled window glass, which requires a lot of experimentation. (He keeps meticulous notes about each type of glass he fires and the outcome.) Some of his art incorporates historic metal objects he’s found at the bottom of Lake Tahoe while performing cleanup work, an activity for which he has received regional accolades. See more of his work on his website.