Artist Research
John Mason
Goal: Learn to master the organic geometric form
Goal: Learn to master the organic geometric form
About:
John Mason is an important figure in American sculpture, particularly that of the West Coast. Born in Madrid, Nebraska in 1927 and raised in Fallon, Nevada, Mason moved to Los Angeles in 1949 at the age of 22. He first enrolled at the Los Angeles Art Institute (now Otis) and then studied with Susan Peterson at the Chouinard Art Institute. In 1954, the Los Angeles Art Institute hired Peter Voulkos to head the ceramics department. Mason worked with Voulkos and others in the ceramics studios at night, and worked independently during the day.
The artist then diversified his output, producing tall vertical sculptures, huge wall reliefs, cross forms and geometric shapes. Symmetry, rotation, mass, and the integration of color and form came to characterize his work, and are some of the sustaining concepts of his career. Although Mason does not consciously draw on identifiable sources in his work, he does recall an interest in primitive art, a fact which is manifested in the mysterious and totemic quality of many of his pieces.
John Mason’s innovations in the field of ceramic sculpture opened the art world’s eyes to the possibilities of the medium. His process-based method of working emphasized the clay and what he could do with it, as he pushed to material well past conventional limits and tradition. John Coplans illustrates this point, writing, “he is not only capable of endowing his massive images with a rich complexity of associative values, but in helping to free ceramics from its long tradition of vessel form and intimate scale he has persuasively demonstrated the flexibility of a hitherto limited material.”
John Mason inspired me in the creation of my Fun Function pieces because I wanted to work with organic shapes but having a geometric feel. Although my fun function air planters are more organic, the form follows John Mason's work in a sense that the entire pieces is a continuation of a full form. In the future, I plan to glaze my pieces as John Mason does in his more organic pieces by using a drip method and randomly splotching things on it (put in a purposeful way). I aspire to make some pieces that are more geometric as seen in his tall vertical pieces. The main inspiration from John Mason for the Fun Function will be using his glazing techniques, and was creating an organic yet geometric form in a sense that it looks very neat and symmetrically abstract.
cite: http://franklloyd.com/dynamic/artist_bio.asp?ArtistID=19
John Mason is an important figure in American sculpture, particularly that of the West Coast. Born in Madrid, Nebraska in 1927 and raised in Fallon, Nevada, Mason moved to Los Angeles in 1949 at the age of 22. He first enrolled at the Los Angeles Art Institute (now Otis) and then studied with Susan Peterson at the Chouinard Art Institute. In 1954, the Los Angeles Art Institute hired Peter Voulkos to head the ceramics department. Mason worked with Voulkos and others in the ceramics studios at night, and worked independently during the day.
The artist then diversified his output, producing tall vertical sculptures, huge wall reliefs, cross forms and geometric shapes. Symmetry, rotation, mass, and the integration of color and form came to characterize his work, and are some of the sustaining concepts of his career. Although Mason does not consciously draw on identifiable sources in his work, he does recall an interest in primitive art, a fact which is manifested in the mysterious and totemic quality of many of his pieces.
John Mason’s innovations in the field of ceramic sculpture opened the art world’s eyes to the possibilities of the medium. His process-based method of working emphasized the clay and what he could do with it, as he pushed to material well past conventional limits and tradition. John Coplans illustrates this point, writing, “he is not only capable of endowing his massive images with a rich complexity of associative values, but in helping to free ceramics from its long tradition of vessel form and intimate scale he has persuasively demonstrated the flexibility of a hitherto limited material.”
John Mason inspired me in the creation of my Fun Function pieces because I wanted to work with organic shapes but having a geometric feel. Although my fun function air planters are more organic, the form follows John Mason's work in a sense that the entire pieces is a continuation of a full form. In the future, I plan to glaze my pieces as John Mason does in his more organic pieces by using a drip method and randomly splotching things on it (put in a purposeful way). I aspire to make some pieces that are more geometric as seen in his tall vertical pieces. The main inspiration from John Mason for the Fun Function will be using his glazing techniques, and was creating an organic yet geometric form in a sense that it looks very neat and symmetrically abstract.
cite: http://franklloyd.com/dynamic/artist_bio.asp?ArtistID=19