Growing up, Mason Williams knew very little about his great-great-great grandfather Frederick Ballard Williams beyond the fact that he was a painter based in New York. When he was older and pursuing his own fine art education at Laguna College of Art and Design, he became more curious and began to dig a little deeper.
In his research, he found out that Ballard Williams had been connected to the Hudson. River School of painters and had traveled to the Grand Canyon in the 1870s where he painted alongside Thomas Moran.
At the time, Mason was working on his master's thesis which, coincidentally, was about the sublime in 19th-century landscape paintings of the American West and the artists whose work defined the aesthetic most famously Moran and other Hudson River School artists Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church and Thomas Cole. "There was this really cool, full circle feeling happening," says Mason, who was excited to learn that his ancestor had not only been a painter, but loosely associated with some of the most significant artists of that era.
Little did Mason know he had only scratched the surface. The true spine-tingling moment of synchronicity came this past April when Mason was at the historic Salmagundi Club in New York City for Americans in Paris, an annual exhibition presented by Laguna Beach gallery Vanessa Rothe Fine Art.
While in school, Mason would stop into the gallery frequently and, in 2022, Vanessa Rothe asked him to be part of the exhibition in which he would share wall space with big names in contemporary realism like Michael Carson, Quang Ho, Adrienne Stein, Vincent Xeus and Jeremy Lipking.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 2023 من American Art Collector.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 2023 من American Art Collector.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
FULL EXPOSURE
Photographer Conor Martin documents the present using photographic methods of the past.
Autumnal Light
The landscapes and nature scenes of painter Jennifer Sowders are irresistibly tactile, filled with varying textures that seem to leap off the canvas.
Art for All
Members of Art Dealers Association of America come together for a philanthropic affair.
Modern Marketplace
Redwood Art Group brings together the San Diego region for another class-act celebration of contemporary artwork.
An Enchanting Evening
Scottsdale Artists’ School knows how to throw an art party.
Timeless Tales
Soft, warm undertones underscore the mood of enchantment that runs through Nom Kinnear King’s paintings.
Next Exit New York
Coming off his series that focused on San Francisco and Los Angeles freeway signs, artist Eric Nash’s sights are now set on New York. Now on view at George Billis Gallery's Manhattan location are seven of Nash's new oil paintings and two drawings that explore the signage of New York City freeways. Although Nash's work is tightly rendered, he doesn’t consider himself a photorealist, but rather someone who utilizes those techniques to express ideas.
Monster Mash
Vampires, witches, ghouls and all things that go bump in the night are the theme of the exhibition Monster Mash, now at Abend Gallery.
Inside/Outside
Those familiar with Geoffrey Johnson's populated by inky figures and trailing shadows that bleed into the wet streets, and architectural elements obscured to varying degrees by the misty atmosphere.
Bold Figures; Bold Color
For Brooklyn based painter J Louis, it’s all about balance, which can mean many different things in a composition, but for Louis, it’s about balancing his female figures among a unique landscape of color.
