Category: DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI
September 1, 2023 | Repost from Gowanda Central School District Facebook Page
ALUMNI WEEKEND for Gowanda Central School District is slated the weekend of September 22-24, 2023, and is facilitated by our friends with Gowanda Boosters Club. The three-day celebration kicks off Friday, September 22, 2023, with the GCS HALL OF FAME induction ceremony from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Historic Hollywood Theater.
We are pleased to share the profile of Distinguished Alumni Carson Waterman, a Native American Indigenous artist and 1965 graduate of Gowanda CSD who has spent his lifetime sharing his heritage through his art.
Mr. Waterman’s artwork not only preserves the Native American culture, he says art saved his life during his time as a Vietnam veteran. During his military service, Mr. Waterman began to find his purpose through drawing, sketching, and painting. His many realism sketches awarded him a prized position as a combat artist for the US Army’s Fourth Infantry Division. When he returned home, art provided him an outlet from the wartime trauma he carried.
Mr. Waterman’s resume includes teaching studio art at Cooper School of Art in Cleveland, at the Cuyahoga Community College and Cleveland State University, and at the Cleveland Museum of Art. He interned at the world’s largest museum, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and the New York State Museum in Albany.
In 1975, Mr. Waterman became the primary exhibit manager, illustrator, and artist for the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum in Salamanca. Since 1988, Mr. Waterman has owned his own art gallery on the Allegany Territory, Carson Waterman American Indian Art Co., 28 Main Street in Salamanca, NY. His beautiful work has been displayed at the Smithsonian Institute, New York State Museum, Tennessee State Museum as well as numerous universities and private museums throughout the northeast.
Recently, the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum-Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center unveiled the Carson Waterman: A Retrospective Art Exhibit which will be on display until May 2024 in Salamanca. This is a representation of the celebration of his life, work, and the profound impact on his representation of Seneca identity and visual culture over the past several decades.
Gowanda CSD students study Mr. Waterman’s works of art as a mentor artist focusing on composition and symbolism.
He resides on the Allegany Territory in Salamanca with his wife, Debbie Cole. He has one daughter, Casey Waterman.
The GCS HALL OF FAME has four categories – SPORTS LEGEND, SPORTS TEAM, DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR and DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI.
