Only the great and powerful Jen Graves would relegate a 92 year old Art Icon with a history so vast it could fill a thousand Strangers to a second string article. In that she feels the "turd ceramics"are so much more now and relevant I'm sure(my conjecture) but truly, leave it to you Jen Graves to slap an icon in the face and punch him in the gut before you walk away. Ah the sheer audacity of the ignorant, there's really nothing like it!
Alden Mason was Chuck Close's teacher at UW. When Close got some noteriety in NY, he arranged for a show of Mason's Burpee series paintings. They were a big hit.