Artwork copyright Bonnie Bronson. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2016.

Artwork copyright Bonnie Bronson. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2016.

Metal Sculpture, 1976

Bonnie Bronson
(American, born 1940, died 1990)

Location: South Seattle College, Seattle

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 shapes in two colors. But when we look more closely, it is subtly three-dimensional, with angled surfaces. Bronson uses mostly trapezoid shapes to create a complex puzzle that is balanced but also asymmetrical. All of these elements together create an illusion of pattern 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.