Celebrating its eighth year, the Carter Community Artist initiative welcomes Holly D. Gray, Jack Hein, Elizabeth Maria Hudson, and Carolyn Marco.

Fort Worth, TX, December 4, 2025 — The Amon Carter Museum of American Art (the Carter) is pleased to announce its 2026 Carter Community Artists: Holly D. Gray, Jack Hein, Elizabeth Maria Hudson, and Carolyn Marco. Every year, the Carter selects four local artists to assist with creating, planning, and leading experiences at the Museum and in the community. This yearlong commitment allows local artists to collaborate with the Carter’s education staff on a wide variety of projects and events designed for audiences of all ages and abilities. In 2026, these four artists will each bring their distinct talents and perspectives to the Museum as they make connections to the Museum’s expansive collection, exhibitions, and rich history with the local community.

“With each new class of Carter Community Artists, our collaborative possibilities expand,” said Amanda Blake, Director of Education, Library, and Visitor Experience at the Carter. “For 2026, we’re particularly excited to partner with artists whose work invites curiosity, sparks dialogue, and reflects the diverse experiences of our community. These artists will play an essential role in shaping how we share and celebrate American art in the year ahead, and we look forward to the experiences we create together.”

The 2026 Carter Community Artists’ practices span a range of media, approaches, and narratives, each bringing a unique point of view to the program. Working primarily in clay, Holly D. Gray’s photography and sculpture examine caregiving, emotional labor, and memorialization, informed by nearly two decades of caring for her daughter with disabilities. Jack Hein reflects on memory, displacement, and belonging, drawing on his early experiences as a refugee from Myanmar to shape sculptural works that explore fragility and resilience. Elizabeth Maria Hudson uses watercolor to translate Black American folklore into a visual language grounded in womanist themes of agency, liberation, and communal care. And Carolyn Marco’s interdisciplinary work explores material transformation and sustainable making, inspiring learners of all ages to find creativity in overlooked and reclaimed materials. Together, these four artists will shape the ways we connect with our community in 2026, from lectures and workshops to student tours and art-making activities.

The Carter Community Artists initiative is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation.

Carter Community Artists: 2026 Class

Holly D. Gray

Holly D. Gray is a North Texas-based multidisciplinary artist whose photography and sculpture examine caregiving, emotional labor, and memorialization. Her work is deeply informed by 18 years of caring for her daughter with disabilities, shaping contemplative narratives about time and resilience. Gray earned her MFA from the University of Texas at Arlington. Her work has been exhibited nationally and featured in various print and online publications. Her educational work includes local workshops, private instruction, and teaching photography at the university level.

Jack Hein

Jack Hein is a ceramic artist whose practice explores memory, displacement, and belonging, shaped by his early life as a refugee from Myanmar. Now based in North Texas, he holds a BFA from Texas Christian University and an MA from the University of Dallas. Hein’s work has been shown nationally, earning awards including Best in Clay at the Materials: Hard + Soft 2025 International Juried Show and an emerging artist recognition from the Dallas Museum of Art. He also serves as the co-art director for the Summer Art Academy at the University of Dallas.

Elizabeth Maria Hudson

Elizabeth Maria Hudson is a Dallas-based watercolor figurative painter whose work translates Black American folklore through a womanist lens. Her paintings explore agency, liberation, and community care. Hudson studied painting at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and holds a BA in history and art history from the University of Texas at Austin. She has exhibited at Pencil on Paper Gallery, the Carver Museum, Big Medium, and Martha’s Contemporary.

Carolyn Marco

Carolyn Marco is a Richardson-based multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work explores material transformation, sustainability, and creative connection. With a background in metalsmithing and jewelry, she uses reclaimed materials to create meaningful, hands-on art experiences. Marco works as a Gallery Educator at the Dallas Museum of Art and develops upcycling and wearable-art workshops through her independent practice, Kiki Knows Art. Her work encourages makers of all ages to reimagine the beauty of the overlooked.

Visit cartermuseum.org/events for up-to-date information on events featuring our new class of Carter Community Artists.

About the Carter Community Artists

The Carter Community Artists initiative, established in 2018, is an Amon Carter Museum of American Art initiative created to work with and support local artists to develop opportunities for the North Texas community to connect with the Carter’s collection and artists in the region. The yearlong commitment includes the participating artists collaborating on a wide array of projects and events for student, family, and adult audiences. Outreach and events include on- and off-site activities, virtual events, educational resources, and community-based programs led and created by the selected artists and Carter staff. The Carter Community Artist program inducts a new group of four artists every year with applications available each summer.

About the Amon Carter Museum of American Art

Located in the heart of Fort Worth’s Cultural District, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (the Carter) is a dynamic cultural resource that provides unique access and insight into the history and future of American creativity through its expansive exhibitions and programming. The Carter’s preeminent collection includes masterworks by legendary American artists such as Ruth Asawa, Alexander Calder, Frederic Church, Stuart Davis, Robert Duncanson, Thomas Eakins, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jacob Lawrence, Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, and John Singer Sargent, as well as one of the country’s foremost repositories of American photography. In addition to its innovative exhibition program and engagement with artists working today, the Museum’s premier primary research collection and leading conservation program make it a must-see destination for art lovers and scholars of all ages nationwide. Admission is always free. To learn more about the Carter, visit cartermuseum.org.