Alden Mason
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Alden Mason
Biography
Born: Everett, Washington, 1919
Resides: Seattle, Washington, 2013
Mason received his M.F.A. from the University of Washington in 1947. He was a professor of art at the University of Washington until his retirement in 1981, and painted full-time until his death. Since childhood Mason had been fascinated with the natural world, particularly with insects, fish and birds. He was an avid angler and bird-watcher, which is reflected in the subject matter of his prints. Primarily a painter, his prints also reflect the “squeeze-bottle” painting technique that he developed in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The childlike, playful style of his abstracted figures reveals the influence of the works of modern masters Arshile Gorky, Jean Dubuffet, and Joan Miro.
Resides: Seattle, Washington, 2013
Mason received his M.F.A. from the University of Washington in 1947. He was a professor of art at the University of Washington until his retirement in 1981, and painted full-time until his death. Since childhood Mason had been fascinated with the natural world, particularly with insects, fish and birds. He was an avid angler and bird-watcher, which is reflected in the subject matter of his prints. Primarily a painter, his prints also reflect the “squeeze-bottle” painting technique that he developed in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The childlike, playful style of his abstracted figures reveals the influence of the works of modern masters Arshile Gorky, Jean Dubuffet, and Joan Miro.
Artist Statement
“Mason is an artist full of youthful, brilliant and engaging contradictions. His work is charged with humor and unease, truth and myth, nature and mystery…hectic, bussing images that dance and float as if possessed with a timeless spirit-magic lifted from ancient petroglyphs, ritual guides and hidden cultures.”
– S. Duda, Boise Weekly, 1994 –
– S. Duda, Boise Weekly, 1994 –