Artists

Judith A. Mason

Fall

  • 80 x 60 in
  • $12,000

Artist Profile

Judith A. Mason is a visual artist, performer, and curator who has been actively involved in the art world for over 45 years.

“Before I ever knew there was such a thing as ‘art’, or what being an artist was, I couldn’t help making things. I didn’t grow up in an artistic environment, so I had to secretly steal bars of soap from the family bathroom to carve into little turtles, use fruits and vegetables as materials for sculptural figures for a school project, wax a selected collection of perfect fall leaves, then meticulously arrange and paste them on a piece of cardboard. I loved making things for holiday rituals—decorations for Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Christmas.”

Mason has a MA degree in Cultural Theory from the Frost Center, an Education Degree and an Honours BA, from Trent University, Peterborough, ON. She completed a two-year curatorial course from the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington under the mentorship of curator Caroline Bell Farrell, and for all of her adult life, she has taken various courses from numerous arts institutions such as NSCAD, OCAD, The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Green Heron Pottery, Celtic Collage (Cape Breton), and George Brown College. She has curated several exhibitions, written and published curatorial texts, and presently teaches visual and media arts at the Canadian International School in Cairo, Egypt.

My painterly images emerge from several different sources. They apply the experiences I’ve had working in many media—clay, fabric, sculpture, drawing, puppet-making, photography, and performance—and my interests in literature, poetry, theatre, religion, and psychoanalysis. Perhaps one of the most informative and consistent experiences is listening to jazz. All these mixes with the mundane experiences of everyday life, creating an energetic topography of form, texture, and colour that communicates something that one cannot speak about but only experiences in the moment of doing it or making it—of bringing something to life.

What the ‘it’ is remains a mystery to me; I only know that when I am in the flow of the moment of making, the work becomes more than I could make.

I begin my work without thinking about its appearance, but I allow my body to initiate what happens. After building up multiple layers of possible encounters and incidental opportunities, I spend enormous amounts of time looking carefully and thoughtfully at what has appeared. I begin to consider some areas as beginning to work and obliterate others. I try to allow the work to suggest what’s next by engaging my interest in one area or another. After building up particular forms in various configurations that set up particular confrontations with one thing to another, then I consider colour, its implications, and interactions.

EDUCATION & AWARDS

Master’s Degree in Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies

ART THEORY THESIS – The Mill at Clarington:  Curating Place in the Environmental Work of Four Contemporary Canadian Artists

Trent University (completed April 2012).  Received the Leslie Frost Entrance Scholarship

Bachelor of Education

Trent University (completed April 2009)

Additional Qualifications:  Intermediate Visual Arts (Spring 2014), ESL, Part I (Fall 2014)

Honours B.A. in Cultural Studies

Trent University   Sept. 1990 – April 1999

Received the Frith Prize for The Bride Revisited site-specific installation at Peter Robinson College

Curatorial Mentoring Program

Visual Arts Centre of Clarington – Sept. 1996-1998 with Curator Carolyn Bell Farrell

 TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Secondary Visual and Media Arts Teacher

and English/Drama Teacher (2015 – 2022)

Canadian International School of Egypt

Cairo, Egypt

Visual and Media Arts and Drama Teacher, The Canadian International School of Egypt (2015 – 2022)

Gallery Educator, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery

Art Teacher, Haliburton School of the Arts

Director and Art Teacher, Small Beginnings Art School

Studio Instructor for Cultural Theory Course, Trent University

Art Teacher, Art Gallery of Peterborough, Whitby Station Gallery and Visual Arts Centre of Clarington

Curriculum Connections (Artist in the School Program), The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington

STUDIO EDUCATION

Drama/Performance Workshop with Geoff Cresswell, Cairo, Egypt (2021)

Silk Screen/Image Transfer Workshops at Madder House Studio, Peterborough, On (Summer 2019)

Drama/Performance Workshops with Geoff Cresswell, Cairo, Egypt (2016 – 2018)

Performance/Dance Workshops, Public Energy, Peterborough, Ontario (May 2012 – 2015)

Weaving Courses, Celtic College, Nova Scotia (August 2006, 2007, 2008)

Apprentice at Pottery Studio, Green Heron Pottery, Cavan, Ontario (Sept. 2001 – May 2008)

Green Heron Pottery

Courses in Drawing and Printmaking, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia (June 1999-Sept. 1999)

Sculpture Course, Ontario College of Art & Design, Toronto, Ontario (Sept.-Dec. 1996)

Life Drawing, Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Clarington, Ontario (1990-1998)

Courses and Workshops in Encaustic, Pottery and Photography, Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Clarington, Ontario (1990-1997)

EXHIBITIONS

2022   Collage, Dignam Gallery, Woman’s Art Association of Canada, Toronto, Ontario

2021   CIA -> YYZ: Arrivals and Departures, Ludmila Gallery, Peterborough, Ontario

2018   Intersections:  “My World – My Community”, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

2017   Coming of Age, Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Clarington, Ontario

2017   In my Sixtieth Year, performance piece/director Leslie Menagh/poet Judith Graham

2017   Iris at Twenty, WIA Projects, OISE, Toronto, Ontario

2016   Iris at Twenty, Gallery A, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario

2015   Filmic, Whitby Station Gallery, Whitby

2015   The Perfect Spy, performance piece for Emergency #20, Public Energy, Peterborough, Ontario

2014   Despair, Fear and Ambivalence (three drawings), WhiteOut, Toronto Arts Council Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

2014   Fe(Male), installation 10 dolls, The Iris Group at OSI, Oshawa, Ontario

2014   Nothing Stands Still (painting exhibition), Artspace on the Mezzanine, Clarington Library (VAC), Ontario

2014   The Three Sisters, the Situations and the Sepulchre, site-specific paintings, sculpture and sound installation, No Man’s Land, Erring on the Mount, Peterborough, Ontario

2013   Conversation Pieces Café, performance piece, Artspace, Peterborough, Ontario

2013   Space Invaders (War of the Worlds), installation for Oshawa Space Invaders, Oshawa, Ontario

2012   Outsiders 2012, Interactive site-specific installation, Nuit Blanche Toronto, Ontario

2012   Scenes from a Mirage/Marriage (painting exhibition), The Ritz, Peterborough, Ontario

2012   Water, Triennial Exhibition, Art Gallery of Peterborough, Ontario

2011   House Series (paintings), Nexus Art Gallery, Orono, Ontario

2010   Land and Water, Whitby Station Gallery, Whitby, Ontario

2010   Missing Man Series, Art Gallery of Peterborough, Ontario

2006   Furniture, Fissures and Fancies, site-specific painting installation, Twoeys Furniture Store, Peterborough, Ontario

2005   Hard Drive, site-specific installation, Sadlier House, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario

1997   Coffee or Tea, Centre Bras D’or Art Gallery, Baddeck, Nova Scotia

1996   The Three Little Pigs, sculpture, Kawartha Artists Gallery, Peterborough, Ontario

1996   Wedding Dress, performance/site-specific installation, Sadlier House, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario

1995   The Gift, drawings and sculpture, Artspace, Peterborough, Ontario

1992 – 1994 Durham Artfest, site-specific installations (large sculptural figures, aquarium/fish, face, pregnant papier-mache doll, large drawing), Oshawa, Ontario

1993   Juried Show, Cinderella and her Ugly Step-Sisters (puppets), Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Clarington, Ontario

1992   Juried Show, Breaking Through (sculpture), Honourable Mention, VAC, Ontario

CURATORIAL EXHIBITIONS

2015 – 2022   Student Exhibitions, Cairo, Egypt

2014                 No Man’s Land, Erring on the Mount, Peterborough, ON

2006                 Furniture, Fissures and Fancies, Twoheys Furniture Store, Peterborough, ON

1998                 Tending:  Cultivating Patterns of Kindness, Visual Arts Centre, Clarington, ON

PUBLICATIONS

2019 – 2022   Student Exhibition Catalogues at CISE, Cairo, Egypt

2017                   Essay, Janet Read, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, ON

2015                   Essay,  Sally Thurlow, ‘Menacing Attraction’ , At the Root, Toronto, ON

2014                   Essay, ‘Vision and Blindness’ for WhiteOut, Toronto, ON

2012                   MA Thesis, The Mill at Clarington:  Curating Place in the Environmental Work of Four    

                          Artists, Trent University, Peterborough, ON

1999                 Catalogue, Tending:  cultivating patterns of thought, words and kindness, Visual Arts

                          Centre, Clarington, ON

1995                  The Cultural Leadership Development Project, University of Waterloo, ON

1993                  Re-Thinking the Environment with Curator Maralynn Cherry, Clarington, ON

GRANTS

2016   Exhibition Assistance Grant for Filmic, Whitby Station Gallery

2013   Exhibition Assistance Grant for Oshawa Space Invaders

2012   Exhibition Assistance Grant for Nuit Blanche, Outsiders 2012