Plateau Magazine June-July 2023
This issue we feature women entrepreneurs with locally run businesses and cowgirls who are protecting local animals. We also highlight protecting the land and fields that are important for bees and butterflies pollination. And for the foodies, check out our feature on the Highlands Tavern. Get outdoors with this issue, with our interview on legendary hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis.
This issue we feature women entrepreneurs with locally run businesses and cowgirls who are protecting local animals. We also highlight protecting the land and fields that are important for bees and butterflies pollination. And for the foodies, check out our feature on the Highlands Tavern. Get outdoors with this issue, with our interview on legendary hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis.
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
art seen<br />
Breaking the Mold<br />
Artist Mase Lucas explores the interdependence<br />
of all creatures<br />
By LISA GRAY YOUNGBLOOD » Photos by CHELSEA CRONKRITE<br />
EVEN AS A YOUNG CHILD,<br />
Mase Lucas knew art lay<br />
at her core. “It began with<br />
my next-door neighbor,” she<br />
explains, a smile alighting her<br />
face. “Her name was Louise, and she was<br />
my best friend. Her mother was an artist,<br />
and her home was all about exploring. She<br />
had a huge chalkboard with every color<br />
chalk imaginable, and we would spend<br />
hours drawing, creating elaborate stories<br />
around each sketch, laughing. I always<br />
drew horses. I was crazy about them.” She<br />
pauses, her brow furrowing, and adds,<br />
“When we finished, we just erased it and<br />
started over.” As an acclaimed studio artist,<br />
she no longer wistfully erases and moves<br />
on, but she can still see the beauty in it.<br />
Ingrained as art was in Mase’s psyche,<br />
the road from childhood art lover to successful<br />
professional artist was anything<br />
but direct. When Mase graduated from<br />
school in 1962, the options for women<br />
were more limited and tended toward<br />
teaching, secretarial work and nursing,<br />
none of which spoke to her passions. She<br />
simply did not fit the cultural mold of her<br />
time. But that didn’t much bother her. She<br />
thought it might be more fun to break a<br />
mold than contort herself to its contours.<br />
So, she hit the road, carrying inside her<br />
that uninhibited little girl who made up<br />
stories and drew them for her own joy, never<br />
needing a single one to last. Like erasing<br />
the board and starting all over, Mase and a<br />
posse of pals travelled across the country.<br />
From coast to coast, top to bottom, they set<br />
out to discover their world and themselves.<br />
“It was an adventure,” Mase says, her eyes<br />
wide and bright. “Not knowing what lay<br />
around the corner was the best part. We<br />
were young and unafraid, and everything<br />
seemed possible.” She worked as a movie<br />
projectionist at an art cinema, a deck hand<br />
on a Caribbean sailing ship, an assistant<br />
photo editor at McGraw Hill in New York<br />
City, a ski slope attendant, a go-go dancer,<br />
you name it—whatever paid the bills. The<br />
singular purpose of any job was to allow<br />
time for her adventure to unfold.<br />
50 | The<strong>Plateau</strong>Mag.com
Change language