by Brangien Davis in Crosscut
Plus, new arts leaders take the reins at Pratt, Coyote Central and the Frye Art Museum.
For a joyous and much-needed jolt from the January gray, step into Woodside Braseth Gallery, where an immersive explosion of color comes courtesy of the new show Alden Mason & the “Burpee Garden” Series (through Feb. 10). A prolific Northwest painter, Mason (1919-2013) worked in several distinct styles over his long career.
This one — inspired by the Burpee Seed Company packets he remembered from his rural Skagit Valley youth — bloomed during the 1970s with titles like “Rainbow Teaser,” “Winter Zinger,” “Orange Bingo” and “Butterfly Twinkler.”Next: ArtSEA: Bunny-hopping at Seattle galleries in the year of the rabbit
Mason made these huge Technicolor works by laying the canvases on the floor and standing over them on a specially constructed low bridge. Starting with oils and diluting them with paint thinners, he achieved an intriguing depth of field and abstract images that shift like clouds from deep pools to mica-like scales to fiery pits and yes, flowers — that is if you shoved your face right into a bouquet.