Artwork copyright Bonnie Bronson. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2023.

Artwork copyright Bonnie Bronson. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2023.

Artwork copyright Bonnie Bronson. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2023.

Artwork copyright Bonnie Bronson. Original 1976 installation. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Jim Ball (black and white photo).

Artwork copyright Bonnie Bronson. Original 1977 installation. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Jim Ball (black and white photo).

Metal Sculpture, 1976

Bonnie Bronson
(American, born 1940, died 1990)

Location: Ferndale High School, Ferndale

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Bonnie Bronson’s enamel on steel wall sculpture creates illusions in many ways. The more you look, the more you see. At first glance, we see a simple design of repeating triangles in shades of red. But when we look more closely, it is subtly three-dimensional, with angled surfaces, and there are also trapezoid shapes. Some of the spaces are left empty. There is a sense of symmetry but it is asymmetrical by definition. All of these elements together create an illusion of triangular patterns and simplicity.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with South Seattle Community College.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bonnie Bronson (1940-1990) was a celebrated Oregon-based painter and sculptor. Her artworks are abstract and minimal, often based on grids. They feature enamel on steel sculpture, welded and painted steel collages, painting. and carpet design.

Born in Portland, Bronson studied at the University of Kansas, University of Oregon, and graduated from the Portland Art Museum School (now PNCA, Pacific Northwest College of Art) by the age of 21. She and her husband, sculptor Lee Kelly, lived and worked on a former dairy farm in Oregon City, Northwestern Oregon. She died in a mountaineering accident at age 50. Since 1992, the Bonnie Bronson Fellowship honors a Pacific Northwest artist each year, with an emphasis on sculptors and women artists. In 2011, the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, organized a retrospective exhibition of Bronson's art.