Alden Mason

Alden Lee Mason, was an American painter from Washington known for creating abstract and figurative artwork. Mason was a professor of art at the University of Washington for over 30 years. His painting are held in a number of public collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Seattle Art Museum, the Portland Art Museum, and the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Early life and education Mason was born in Everett, Washington, on July 14, 1919. He described his mother as protective and himself as "a small, skinny kid who couldn't see" that only learned he was in need of glasses as a college sophomore.

At age twelve, Mason trapped muskrats to earn money for mail-away cartooning lessons. He stated "I felt guilty trapping all those muskrats, but I loved cartoons, with figures jumping, hopping and smooching. They were having more fun than I was. They lived in a brighter world."

Mason graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 1936.

Early career and influences, 1938 - 1976 Mason first began serious artistic pursuits when he arrived at the UW in 1938. He found that he had a natural aptitude for watercolor painting. At this time Mason became acquainted with Alan Stone, an art dealer in New York who represented his work through the late 1970s. The Greg Kucera gallery later described these works, saying ...

"With their audacious color, surprising scale, and exuberant abstraction, they represent a break with the drably colored or poetic narratives that had typified painting here following the advent of the Northwest School… In the paintings titled the 'Burpee Garden' series Mason produced six by seven foot paintings in a color range not previously seen in the Northwest. Created from 1970 to 1976 this short period produced some of the most influential and groundbreaking works ever made in Seattle." Mason switched to less-toxic acrylics as the medium for his paintings. To develop his ideas, he spent time working on large paper pieces in search of his voice with this new medium. For works on paper from this period, Mason used a chopstick to drag acrylic paint across the surface and painted with thin, gestural washes on paper that was first painted black.

Late-career 1990s – 2013 In the 1990s, Mason branched out from Big Heads and began to depict the full body, where his figures appear to dance. The sketchy black outline of each character gives the feeling that they are jiving to Mason's symphony of texture and color. Experimenting with acrylic paint application, Mason took the raised line of the Squeeze Bottle pieces, his drawings, Big Heads, and a chop stick; and combined them resulting in a less precise line. Mason sketched with the chopstick on canvas, smudging the black or white line and adding splashes of vibrant color; he then filled in the backgrounds with a monochromatic palette on a scale averaging 60" x 50". Figure focused work occupied Mason during his later career. His studio was filled with "bird watching books, some tribal carvings from halfway around the globe, and a couple of framed carcasses of six inch long bugs."

Mason died on February 6, 2013, in Seattle, Washington at the age of 93. He was remembered by the Seattle Times as, "a vivid splash of color in the Northwest art world."

Travel Mason was known to travel internationally to experience exotic flora and fauna. He stated that he was keen on the tropics "because there are hundreds of kinds of birds, beautiful tropical birds of all kinds from parrots to parakeets to toucans." were later reinterpreted in paint.

One of the most influential trips of Mason's career happened in 1989 when he took a trip to Papua New Guinea to spend six weeks with the Huli tribe at the age of 70.

Collections and public works Mason's paintings are held in the collections of the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Museum of Northwest Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Portland Art Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, and many private and corporate collections in the US.

State of Washington murals Mason was commissioned by the State of Washington to paint two murals for the Washington Senate Chambers in the state capitol of Olympia. Painted in 1981, Mason's murals, described as "brightly colored mosaics depicting nature scenes" The murals were designed to fill the lunettes within the Senate Chamber. when the Senate was renovated.

A Mural Defense Fund was formed and a legal battle ensued with the artist's lawyers arguing that the murals could not be relocated as they were site-specific works of art. The judge reluctantly voted in favor of the state.

Milestones and honors

Selected awards

2005 Northwest Legacy: Visual Arts, Mayor's Arts Award, Seattle, WA 1992 WESTAF/NEA Regional Fellowship for Visual Artists for distinguished achievement in painting 1988 King County Honors Commission Award

Mayor's Art Award In 2005 Mason received the Mayor's Arts Award from the City of Seattle and Mayor Greg Nickels. The award ceremony was held on September 2, 2005, and other recipients included David Brewster, Pat Wright, Peter Donnelly and Sara Liberty Laylin. Mason received the Northwest Legacy: Visual Arts award for his work as a Northwest painter. The honor was received for living in the region his whole life; going on to be educated and to teach at the University of Washington for over 30 years; and making his work in the City of Seattle for over 40 years.

Selected public commissions

2005 6th Ave NW Pocket Park—entry columns and sidewalk pavers created in collaboration with Stephen McClelland 1988 Lunar Promenade, 5' x 18', Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA 1987 McGraw Hall Opera House, Four Murals 4' x 13' each, Seattle, WA (formerly Seattle City Light Promenade) 1982 Yellow Birds, 3' x 11.5', Renton District Court, Renton, WA