MY STORY
Hello! I am Angie Mason, an on going living creative experiment who enjoys making a variety of things! I allow myself to be lost in order to be found. Here is a somewhat brief history of my human existence from early on rather than just list all the fancy accomplishments, because that can get boring pretty quickly. So instead of a snooze fest fancy pants bio I thought I’d go with a more ‘me’ bio; a rambling, nonsensical, chaotic, beautiful mess. Enjoy!
Way back in the Spring of 1973, so late into the night it was the early morning, I came to be a part of this crazy world. At the age of four, now fully bonkers like the rest of humanity, I moved into my childhood home. A small house, in N.J., set back in the woods with a swamp right behind our house, equipped with snapping turtles and beavers. It was in this home where my artistic interests would develop and several failed attempts at flight would also take place.
The creative force inside me drove me over the edge a lot of times …. scribbling words on the walls, carving pictures into my mothers’ good furniture and just doodling doodles on everything right down to my shoes. I suppose my efforts soon began to pay off when I was chosen to be apart of the secret special art program when I was in fourth grade. Though I admit to enjoying the fact that I had to be pulled out of my normal studies to go and smoosh around with some paint or clay, this special art class was starting to become a burden. Soon it was no longer fun, but very strict, so I was kicked out for continuing to have fun. For years I continued to make stuff on my own, almost in secret. At age 12 my parents divorced and this began the moving trend. Throughout all the transitions I was able to stay balanced by being creative through writing and making art, the common thread throughout my life.
Finally settling in Hawthorne N.J. when I was a teenager, I set up shop and began to paint in many of the art classes as well as fill up journals with poems in my creative writing classes and workshops I took while at Hawthorne High. Most of these classes were independent studies which my guidance counselor and I invented. I was also involved in the imaginary art club which only existed in the yearbook of my senior year. I did however have the opportunity to create back drop scenes for school performances and design numerous tee-shirts, write poems for several literary magazines and zines. During the summer of 1990 I attended The Summer Arts Institute, where I studied painting, photography, and creative writing. This was a five-week program which gave me the chance to interact with mounds of creative folk. Many of whom I am friends with today!
At the age of 17, I began to apply to all the big New York Art Schools. Being accepted at all of them, I now had to choose which was the school for me? Well, naturally coming from a single parent home living with my pop, who was a cookie dough dumper over at Nabisco, I based my decision on who offered the best financial package. And the winner is, Parsons School of Design!
I began my studies in the fall of 1991 in the foundation program. Full in my heart I wanted to be a painter so at the end of foundation year I headed into the Fine Arts Department . Completing my sophomore year in full disappointment of the program, I left Parsons.
Almost ending up at Suny New Paltz was quickly defeated by financial problems. So, I took a year off from school, working at a local art supply store. It was here where I fell in love, not with all the supplies, but an actual person! Lyle and I join forces and try to take over the world…oops that’s top-secret information.
Saving enough money, I applied once again to Parsons but this time to the Illustration Department and was accepted to begin in the fall of 1994.
This was a much nicer fit for my work to grow and that it did. Constantly pushing myself to new levels I achieved all that I wanted and more. In 1997 it all came together in the BFA exhibit where I created a mini environment for my work to live in which included written and illustrated children’s books I had developed from scratch. In May 1997 I graduated with my B.F.A. with a big smile on my face:-)
"As a visual person having a wide scope of all visual angles
allows for me to constantly examine ideas in new ways that allow for greater discovery and growth within myself and the work."
Fast Forward like 20 years into the future I have had a very rich creative life including many solo shows, group shows, published art books, sponsored international art events that let me travel to France, Berlin and Italy! On top of being involved in the fine art world I had a creative existence in the design world too from experiencing the dot com days of the mid late 90 boom to the 2000s crash. My favorite dot com was space.com where I got to work with amazing minds including Sally Ride! I then worked in publishing companies getting to be an in house illustrator and art director for a travel magazine. Then in my design life journey I was involved in the toy industry as a packaging designer and illustrator working on cool brands like Scientific Explorer for Alex Brands. Currently for the past 5 years I have been working in the children’s publishing world as a Senior Designer at Scholastic. It’s an inspiring environment getting to see so many creative book projects come to fruition. These experiences certainly help feed my personal work and help it grow. I like the idea of an integrated life all things feed off each other and help my over all self as a whole grow and progress. So from design to fine art I have worked in all different realms of creativity navigating through entertainment, retail, toys, web, publishing, print and fine art industries. Having a long history within the arts and I have played many roles such as:
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Visual Artist: Painter|Sculptor| Maker of stuff!
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Exhibiting Artist (N.Y.C., Berlin, Italy, London)
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Illustrator for various magazines and agency’s
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Web designer
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Jewelry designer (Fortunate to have actress Amber Tamblyn wear my earrings on national television.)
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Character designer
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Story-teller (working on several projects)
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Graphic Designer
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Package Designer primarily for kids toys and candy
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Art Director
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Podcaster: I created The Clarity Cloud Podcast - I write, produce and host this show.
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Ukulele strummer and sing songy gal - wrote and recorded the original music for the Clarity Cloud Podcast.
All the while during this visual journey I continue my love of writing by utilizing it within my artistic endeavors such as writing press releases, and artist statements for my various art shows, as well as creating marketing copy for the promotion of my art and other gallery events I was involved in as well as naming products for the toy industry. I also created flourish and product copy descriptions for all items in my online shop – The Angie Mason Art Shop which has been online successfully since 2002, to name a few. Most recently my writing is found over on my clarity cloud podcast where I write all the episodes essays.
Simply put my brain is always full of images and words, the two always went hand in hand since I was a little kid. For years I paid a great deal of attention to growing my visual garden, and I have shifted gears at times tending to my garden of words. Planting seeds and seeing what grows on this twisted garden path of life. Ready! Set! Grow!
To wrap this up in regards to my art I visually explore the darkness and light we face in life through the creation of character narrative works. Focusing on twisted combinations and dual opposites (such as sweet vs. sour, happy vs. sad or life vs. death) I try to paint truths about being human. Varied influences are found within my work ranging from such things as nature, love, relationships, dreams, memories, humor, loss and health to name a few. These mixed influences cause a balance of light and dark that intermingle with each-other. By creating a visual playground brings my quirky characters to life, that are beautifully rendered yet with a painterly hand giving them an innocent raw touch. My works are both horrific and humorous, yet speaks of what it means to be human.
Currently I am dreaming myself awake in North Jersey where I live in an old house on a hill with my husband and three cats.