Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Ceramic 'Relief Tapestries' of George Mason

Light, shadow, texture and relief, and the primacy 
of gravity continue to capture my attention. 
Increasingly, I want my work to sit still.
~ George Mason, Artist's Statement

In the video below, by Devin Altobello, ceramic sculptor George Mason, a co-founder of Maine's Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, talks eloquently about his artwork. His gorgeous, wonderfully textured "relief tapestries" are wall-size, free-standing pieced-panels; his materials, in addition to clay, include plaster, pigment, casein paint, layered paper-cuts, and encaustic.

A three-time winner of "Artists Fellowships" from the National Endowment for the Arts, Mason has completed public commissions for Atlanta's Federal Reserve Bank, the New York Public School System's "Percent for Art" initiative, and Maine Art Commission's own "Percent for Art" program. Most recently, he taught at University of Colorado at Boulder. (Read Mason's resume.)

The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine at the University of Maine, Augusta, included Mason's sculptures in its exhibition "The Dilemma of Memory: Maine Artists and the Holocaust"* this past fall.

Mason maintains a studio in Nobleboro, Maine (Damariscotta Mills), and welcomes visitors.



Also see "Step by Step, Artist's Process", another excellent video in which Mason describes his creative and physical work processes. Note how beautifully his work complements the spaces for which Mason creates. I particularly appreciate that he creates with the intention of producing an opportunity for "an utterly fresh response"** that calls out to people to touch his work.


* Britta Konau, "Art Current: The Dilemma of Memory", Free Press Online, November 19, 2014

* Lisa Kristoff, "Artistic Experiments and Chamber Music", Boothbay Register, December 8, 2014

(My thanks to Watershed Center for the video link.)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wonderful to be able to share. To live my life as an artist... still, like to think my writing my children's books is an echo of his amazing creativity.