About Susan M. Mason
BIOGRAPHICAL AND PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT INFORMATION
![susan mason portrait](susan_about_portrait.jpg)
Susan lived and taught above the Arctic Circle for over 21
years in Inupiaq villages. She grew up in Atlantic, NC. “I feel
fortunate that I spent most of my life in places where the natural world was
valued and respected. I spent lots of
time walking and exploring the tundra and shores along the Bering Strait, the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean. I found many
similarities between the Arctic and where I grew
up. The Arctic vistas were like the vistas of Carteret County – they were open
and broad with an endless sky. If you take a closer look, you will see great
beauty in the details of such a landscape. I feel fortunate that God gave me
the gift of “seeing” these details and the gift of making art, which enables me
to share what I see and feel. I hope
that my work provides the experience of walking on a shell strewn beach,
viewing a beautiful sunrise or watching our commercial fishermen as they gather
their catch and taking time to see the beauty that surrounds all of us no
matter where we live.“
EDUCATION/EMPLOYMENT
- Bachelor of
Science in Art Education - East Carolina University
- Variety of
courses in Photography, PhotoShop, Art, Drawing and Drawing Research,
Education and Training, Native Sculpture – Mask Making
- Instructor
of Teacher Education and Art courses for Chukchi Community College,
Kotzebue, Alaska adjunct teacher and Ilisagvik
College, Barrow, Alaska, adjunct teacher
- Instructor
art and web design for the North
Slope Borough School
District via Interactive Compressed Video
- Educational
Technologist, North Slope Borough School
District – 1 year
- Facilitator
of Technology for North Slope Borough School District–3 years
- Secondary
Educator – 21 years experience in the villages of Noorvik, Kotzebue,
Glennallen, Point Hope, Kaktovik, and Barrow, Alaska - 5 years in Beaufort and Hickory, North
Carolina
EXHIBITS
- Carteret General Hospital - 2007
- Mattie King
Davis Gallery - 2006
- Carteret County Library Exhibit –
Beaufort 2003,2006, 2008 Bogue Banks 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
- Carolina
Artist Studio Gallery – Featured Artist Exhibits – 2003,
2004
- Botanical
Exhibition – La Quinta Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico 2002
- Artique
Botanical Art Exhibit – Anchorage, Alaska
2002, 2003
- Sack’s – Anchorage, Alaska 2002
- Alaska House of
Fine Arts – Fairbanks, Alaska
- Stephan’s
Fine Arts – Anchorage, Alaska
- Alaska State Museum – Juneau, Alaska (whaling
prints selected for sale at Museum)
- National Art
Education Exhibit “The Electronic Gallery”
- Denali Foundation
– Denali National Park, Alaska 2001
COMMISSIONS/COLLECTIONS
- Hospice
Festival of Trees Poster - 2006
- Alaska Native Heritage Museum - Botanical Photography Series,
(Donation – 2005)
- Botanical
Photography Series – YMCA – Thomasville, NC 2004
- % For Art – Noorvik Aqqulak School, Noorvik, Alaska – Northwest
Borough School District 2002
- A
Teacher’s Guide to Videoconferencing - Northwest Regional Educational
Laboratory, 2002
- Chuckchi Technical Institute, Catalog Cover – Kotzebue, Alaska
- Illustrator
– The Little Turkle (Children’s book about loggerhead
turtles)
- Illustrator
– Inupiaq Language Books – Northwest Arctic Borough School
District
- Illustrator
– The Owl and the Red Fox and Similes for Mother, North
Slope Borough School
District
AWARDS
- Seafood
Festival Poster Artist - 2008
- Bank of the
Arts – Merit Award for drawing, “Swept Away” 2007
- Best of
US - 2007 Juried Book Series –
Photography
- (2) First
Place, (1) Third
Place – “Rose Show” New Bern Rose
Society 2006
- “Best of North
Carolina Artists 2005 Juried Book Series” –
Honorable Mention - Photography
- Third
Place –
Mixed, Third Place –
Watercolor, Beaufort County Arts
Council, 2005
- Third
Place – Drawing/Pastel – Art for the
Heart 2005
- First
Place – Alaska Life
Category – Alaska Magazine
Photography Contest 2004
- Third
Place – Mixed Media – Art for the Heart
2004
- Honorable Mention
– Photography – Art for the Heart 2003
- Finalist –
International GalleryPrint Botanical Photography Awards 2002
- Logo Design
– Inupiaq Museum of History and Culture – (one of two selected) Barrow,
Alaska 2002
- Beringia
Grant Award – National Park Service and NWASD - 2001 (Arctic Observations – Student
Journaling Project and Web site)
- Kennedy Center Award –
National Technology/Art Award – Hunters of the Arctic Sun - play written
and preformed by students using Compressed Video System North
Slope Borough School
District -Facilitator
of Technology)
- Commendation
Award – Compressed Video Art Course NSBSD – “Learning to See” art
course
- Nomination - Secondary Art Teacher of the Year – Alaska
- Alaskan
Artists Calendar - First National Bank of Alaska
GALLERY REPRESENTATION
- Mattie King
Davis, Handscapes, Of Earth and Sea – Beaufort, NC
- Carolina
Artist Studio Gallery – Morehead
City, NC
- Bank of the
Arts – New Bern, NC