Oral history interview with John Mason
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 5 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hrs., 26 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Mason, John, 1927-2019
label: Interviewer
content: Smith, Paul J.
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Chouinard Art Institute (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Students
label: Names
content: Ferus Gallery (Los Angeles, Calif.)
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Otis Art Institute -- Students
label: Names
content: Ballard, Richard
label: Names
content: Coplans, John
label: Names
content: Fuller, R. Buckminster (Richard Buckminster), 1895-1983
label: Names
content: Hopps, Walter
label: Names
content: Kienholz, Edward, 1927-
label: Names
content: Koshalek, Richard
label: Names
content: Marer, Fred
label: Names
content: McClain, Mac
label: Names
content: Melchert, Jim, 1930-
label: Names
content: Peterson, Susan, 1925-2009
label: Names
content: Price, Kenneth, 1935-2012
label: Names
content: Sheets, Millard, 1907-1989
label: Names
content: Soldner, Paul
label: Names
content: Sullivan, Louis H., 1856-1924
label: Names
content: Voulkos, Peter, 1924-2002
label: Names
content: Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959
topic: label: Topic
content: Ceramicists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Sculptors -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Decorative arts
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Mason, John, 1927-2019
label: Interviewer
content: Smith, Paul J.
label: Creator
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: John Mason (1927-2019 ) was a ceramicist of Los Angeles, California. Paul Smith (1931- ) is Director Emeritus, American Craft Museum of New York City, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 47 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2006 August 28
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.mason06
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of John Mason conducted 2006 August 28, by Paul Smith, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Smith's office, in New York, N.Y.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Mason speaks of his childhood in rural Nevada; early interests in photography and jazz; moving to Los Angeles to attend the Los Angeles County Art Institute, now Otis College of Art and Design; attending Chouinard Art Institute; experiences working at Vernon Kilns and with the head designer Elliot House; opening Glendale Boulevard Studio with Peter Voulkos; his association with Ferus Gallery; and teaching experiences at Pomona College, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Irvine, and Hunter College. He also discusses the development of the Hudson River series exhibition; solo exhibitions at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LA Louver Gallery, Pasadena Art Museum, now Norton Simon Museum of Art, and others; participation in group exhibitions such as, "Sculpture Off the Pedestal" at Grand Rapids Museum of Art; imagery found in his work including the orbit, the figure, the torque, the spear form, the vertical form, the cross or X form, symmetry and the monolith; an interest in Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan; the architectural qualities in his work; the foresight of Buckminster Fuller; and the accelerating change in technology that has taken place over the course of his career. Mason recalls Susan Peterson, Kenneth Price, Paul Soldner, Mac McClain, Fred Marer, Millard Sheets, Edward Kienholz, Walter Hopps, James Melchert, John Coplans, Richard Ballard, Richard Koshalek, and others.