Meet Mason Anne Hegeman | fiber artist & tattoo artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mason Anne Hegeman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mason Anne, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I am pursuing a creative career because making has always come intuitively to me. I was very lucky to have art teachers that fed my creative curiosity from a young age and parents that supported me. I decided in 2nd grade I was going to be a recycled artist and nobody ever told me, “no, not an option”. I have a way of turning any project into an art project, it’s how my brain interacts with the world. I believe that committing to an artistic career is committing to curiosity. Whether I’m making art for myself or others, the process is what keeps me hooked…how can I make this fabric look ridged to embody mountains? How can I make this aesthetically pleasing and functional? Can this design be translated to skin? I love problem-solving and making new things from nothing. I want to create things that make people smile and feel more connected to their spaces and in their bodies. For me, pursuing a creative career is equivalent to living my life authentically.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a fiber installation artist and a tattoo artist. I have always been a maker. I grew up with a love of doodling, crocheting, and finger weaving as well as rearranging furniture and creating cozy spaces. I find perpetual joy in creating and learning about new art materials and mediums.

In my fiber studio, I focus on creating new art objects out of old discarded things; clothing, tablecloths, tarps, tents, hammocks, etc.… I strive to give materials a second life and form as well as hopefully foster environmental awareness in a different way. I also want to bring installation and sculpture as mediums out of museums with the ultimate goal of bringing three-dimensional art into people’s living and work spaces, making them more accessible to everyone.

A recent project I am very proud of is a fiber installation piece at the Boulder REI. I was asked to make something resembling a local rock formation, the FlatIrons. I did this by using discarded sleeping mats, tents, and tarps from the store, turning them into suspended strands, and then weaving rope between them to make an abstract Flatiron image. To this day it is one of my largest pieces and the one that people have the most questions about. It’s important to me that I create objects and environments of substance as well as aesthetically pleasing ones and I felt like this installation succeeded in both.

Tattooing was a medium I started later in my art journey. I have always been a doodler. I love organic, drippy, abstract shapes that hint at botanicals and other things from the natural world. I would draw for fun but never really knew what to do with them until friends started asking if they could have my drawings for tattoos. There are no “perfects” in my drawings…no straight lines, perfect circles or true symmetry. Tattoos as they age, spread, they never look exactly the way they did when you first got them and this is why I believe my abstract designs translate to skin so well. We humans are organic, non symmetrical and our bodies are forever changing. I love the idea of tattoos that are designed to stretch and change with us. They can be used as a powerful form of body reclamation. a way to positively embrace change and age in a world that has endless messaging to the contrary.

Like most things in my life, when it comes to tattooing,I am self-taught and community-mentored. I feel so very fortunate to have such a wonderful community of tattoo artists in Colorado to learn with and from. I’ve now been working for a little over 2 years and have come to believe that tattooing is the ultimate form of showing an artist’s patronage. I have met so many wonderful humans who have connected with my work enough to get it permanently on their bodies. The level of trust and enthusiasm in that decision is endlessly humbling.

Whats next? A lot of people ask me if I’m aiming to be a full time tattooer now…I understand the questions, it does seem more immediately tangible than being a full time large scale installation artist. While I love tattooing but this is not my goal. Regardless of medium, all of my work flows into each other and I can’t give up one part for another. I envision doing part time commission work, both tattoo and sculpture like I am now, and then part time educating. I have always loved to teach and the most rewarding thing to me is being able to help someone create. I am currently in the process of putting together fiber art workshops to teach the techniques I use in my sculpture work. How to use my fabric cords to make chimes, how to make rent- friendly lightweight wall hangings using leftover wrapping paper and sticks, etc. I hope to bring these workshops to the Boulder community in the next year. I’m really excited about using my art as a way to not only feed my own creaative curiosity but as well as a way to interact and positively impact my local community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When friends visit for a week I always spend the first 2 days in Boulder. I’ll take them for a classic Pearl Street stroll, if it’s a Saturday the Farmers market is a must. I’ll usually take them to one of the chiller Boulder Open space trails. The ones along 93 have really great views. We will for sure will stop to get coffee at Spruce or Boxcar Coffee. For food I’ll take them to Tibet Kitchen or Folsom Tai. These are some of my favorite spots in town. If it’s the first Friday of the Month I’ll take them to North Boulders First Friday Art Walk. There are tons of local artists that open their studios for the community and live music and food trucks. It’s a fun time.

If my visitor is doing ok with altitude I’ll plan a day trip up to Nederland or even Dillon for some hiking or snowshoeing in the winter. I’ll also usually plan another day trip to Golden. They have a lovely creek path and Pangea, my favorite coffee shop in that area, is right off the path.. One of the things I have loved about living and working in Boulder is the close proximity to all the small mountain towns and other surrounding front-range towns.

If I can find any local bluegrass, which around here isn’t hard, I’ll find a show for us to go to before my visitor heads out. My favorite places for bluegrass shows are down in Golden at Columbine cafe in the summer or up in Gold Hill at the Gold Hill Inn.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Monica Maldonado. (@monica.maldonado.art) They are a local Boulder artist who is a very talented painter and musician and educator. They teach painting and other art workshops for the community. Monica is an incredibly dedicated and tenacious person, they moved out to Colorado site- unseen, with no family or job but still found their way to the local artist and music communities and set up their workshops from scratch. We are lucky to have Monica as part of the Boulder community.

Website: https://masonannestudio.com

Instagram: @masonanne.studio + @masonanne.ink