Diverse methods
Mel and Mason McCuddin have a lot in common. They are both artists, both uncomplicated and humble, and Mel is Mason’s father. But while Mel is a painter, Mason is a photographer turned sculptor.
Mel, 72, works on many canvases at once. Brandishing a brush dipped in oil paint, he lays out color. Forms emerge like the appearance of shapes in the clouds. In a figurative expressionistic style, his pieces are vague yet recognizable: human figures and animals with penetrating eyes that give the subject the ability to communicate with the observer.
Six of Mel’s pieces (very large active figures) adorn the interior walls of the Spokane Arena. It was his largest commissioned job to date.
An artist for almost 50 years, Mel was inspired by a painting his parents brought home from a carnival when he was about 8. The piece still hangs on his studio wall. It is a landscape that was painted in about three minutes with deliberate and obvious brush strokes.
Born and raised in Spokane, Mel is a retired truck driver. He has lived in his Valley home with his wife, Gloria, for more than 30 years. He has taken some drawing and painting classes and has shown his work in many area galleries. He also shows in Coeur d’Alene, Seattle, Oregon, and St. Thomas.
Mason, 51, was inspired by his father (and mother who is a musician and retired teacher). Mel has always had a studio and is always painting. “My dad taught me how to see,” said Mason.
Mel was an abstract artist when Mason was young. He would bring his work to Mason and ask him what he saw in the work. “Squint your eyes,” he would say. Mason would squint, and he would see whatever his mind would see.
Photography was Mason’s creative outlet for 25 years. He switched to sculpture about seven years ago after the near extinction of traditional film photography. Digital photography has taken over and he teaches it at the Spokane Art School. He also photographs art for artists’ slides and portfolios.
Mason cuts, forms and welds steel. He is beginning to add other metals such as copper, aluminum and brass. He does tabletop pieces, life-size pieces and saw blade cutouts. He also has done some commissioned work. One job decorates the lobby of a hotel in Anchorage; they are large and small fish cutouts that serve as the lobby’s light fixtures.
His studio is at Mutual Materials Brick Factory in Mica. His day job is brick maker.
Metal work and brick making are polar opposites when it comes to their creative processes. Doing both allows Mason to experience the intense heat and weight of metal as well as the introspective and calming feel of clay.
Truck driver, brick maker and artist are straightforward, old-fashioned trades. It is what the McCuddins are made of. They create simple beauty in a complex world. They both worry about waste, and the fuel it takes to keep progress alive, but their art grounds them, and keeps it real.