An artist, a teacher, a lover of all things beautiful...
Maud Mason
Due to the early influence of Mary Forbes, Nona embarked on a journey of learning everything she could about painting china. This included studying many different techniques or styles as well as a focus on the quality of china she would paint. When it came to porcelain, Nona would often spare no expense, importing much of what she painted from France. Also worth noting is that she would import watercolor paper from France.
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Nona would go on to pass along everything she learned to her students over the many years she taught.
Among Nona's many talents and forms of artistic expression was her passion and ability to paint china. From the outset of Nona's education, she was instructed on the form and technique of china painting. One of the most noted of Nona's instructors in this area was Maud Mason. Maud Mason, while widely known and admired at the time for her floral and still lifes, she was also a respected ceramist, "whose close involvement with professional societies and teaching helped foster the decorative arts in New York and its environs." Source: "A Legacy of Art: Paintings and Scuptures by Artist Life Members of the National Arts Club". Nona studied with Maud Mason in New York. Mason was elected to the Artist Life Membership program of the National Arts Club was a member of the club from 1903 until her death in 1956. "She served at various times on the Arts, Decorative Arts, and Social Committess, as well as on the Board of Governors, and she occasionally gave instruction at the club's sketch classes."
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"A native of Kentucky, Mason moved to New York as a child. She went on to study at the Arts Students League of New York in 1893 and from 1899 to 1902, working under William Merritt Chase and others. Biographical sources also indicate additional training at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute, as well as periods of study in France and London."
National Arts Club
Founded 1898
New York City
The National Arts Club was founded by Charles de Kay for the purpose of providing its members with an opportunity to attend "lively and diverse program of lectures, exhibitions and other educational events related to all aspects of the arts." A visit to the club today is truly a trip back in time to the Guilded Age. "For many the clubhouse itself was equally enticing. Indeed, since 1906 the club has been based in a stately edifice, located on the south side of Gramercy Park. The building interior boasts lush black walnut woodwork, magnificent stained glass and period furnishings." Visit the National Arts Club website to find how how to visit and attend events.
"Mason's reputation was initially based on her work as a craftsman. As she related to one interviewer, her 'training in design led to an interest in ceramics,' a field that occupied her attention concurrently with her painting. She exhibited her pottery in New York Society of Ceramic Artists, the Boston Society of American Craftsman and at the Little Gallery in New York. In 1915, she won the gold medal for 'The Decoration of China in Colored Enamels' at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.
A 'ceramist of no mean ability,' Mason was admired for the clarity and simplicity of her forms and for her skillful use of line. As well as producing her own designs, she served as director of the New York Ceramics Studios and was a teacher at the Fawcett School of Industrial Art, where she was responsible for introducing decorative pottery-making into the curriculum.
