Tamar Mason

Tamar Mason has combined her community project work with large commissions. In 1998 - 2000 Mason led a team of thirty women from Kwaggafontein (Mpumalanga) to collaborate with a group of women from Ekulendeni (Mpumalanga) to carry out a 35m x 3.25m wall hanging for the Legislature Assembly Chamber at the Legislature buildings in Nelspruit (the first government complex to be built in the new South Africa. The brief was to tell the history of the province from the first signs of life found in fossils around the town of Barberton to the establishment of a democratic government in South Africa. The wall hanging is made up of embroidery, appliqué, wirework and beadwork.

In 2005/06 Tamar Mason was commissioned by the Origins Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand to create eleven panels measuring 2m x 4.5m. The brief was to tell the story of the history of the Bushmen/San using imagery from contemporary Bushman artwork as well as from Rock paintings and engravings. Emma Mnguni and her team from Kwaggafontein helped with the stitching and beadwork. The work is on fabric and combines beadwork, embroidery, fabric paint and brass safety pins. In 2007 Mason was commissioned to make a 6m x 2m panel for The Graham Beck Wine Estate Winery in Franschhoek.

Tamar Mason studied drawing and painting in Italy before completing a BA (Unisa) majoring in English Literature and History of Art. Mason studied ceramics under Kim Sacks for a year and a half before setting up her own studio in Newtown at The Fordsburg Artists Studios (aka The Bag Factory). In 2002 she moved her studio to a rural area outside of White River in Mpumalanga. Since 1988 she has been extensively involved with rural women's craft projects and community projects in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. She was awarded a merit award at the Altech Ceramics Biennale 2000.

Tamar Mason has participated in numerous group exhibitions in South Africa and has work represented in South African Public and Corporate collections as well as in private collections in South Africa, Europe and the United States. In South Africa collections include the MTN Collection, The Jhb Stock Exchange, Mpumalanga Legislature, King George VI Museum Port Elizabeth, Ernst and Young Collection, the Graham Beck Wine Estate as well as The Origins Centre and the Rock Art and Research Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand. In the USA her work is in the collection of The Smithsonian Museums Commissions include a tapestry for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, 35m x 3.2m wall hanging for The Legislature Assembly Chamber Nelspruit, 11 panels 2m x 4.5 m for the Origins Centre University of the Witwatersrand.In 2004/2005 Tamar Mason was asked to contribute a print for the Limited Edition Bartkowiaks Forum Book Art yearbook based in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005 Mason was awarded an Ampersand Foundation Fellowship and spent a month in New York and Washington DC.

Tamar Mason archive

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