When the Watergate hearings were held in 1973, my mother was spell bound. Then, as now, she cannot do one thing at a time. So, as she watched and listened to the Watergate hearings on her 9-inch black-and-white television, my mom sculpted the recurrent players.  Each day I came home from school to see her madly wheeling one clay bust to the side and bringing in another as the television’s camera switched its focus.  

Eventually, my mother completed eight busts of five men associated with the Committee (Howard Baker, Sam Dash, Sam Ervin, Daniel Inouye, Fred Thompson) and three men from the White House (John Ehrlichman, Bob Haldeman, John Mitchell) who testified before the committee. These eight heads became the Jane Mason Watergate sculptures.

My mother’s sculpting was a family affair. It felt big. We all were invested. Here is my father’s description of how my mom chose who to sculpt:

My mother, Jane Sommer Mason grew up in Chicago.  From an early age, she loved to draw and paint, artistic expressions that have been constants throughout her life. When my older brothers, four and six at the time, came home from school and announced that they could not draw, my mother was appalled.  She told them, “Oh, yes you can” and promptly invited several neighborhood kids to join my brothers for weekly art lessons.  Within a couple of years, my mother had a thriving art school, teaching drawing, painting and ceramic sculpture to almost a 100 children and adults every week.  Now 93 years old, she still teaches drawing, albeit only to adults now (although I know she will make an exception for her imminently arriving first great-grandchild).

My mother’s Watergate sculptures received local attention at the time. And then politics died down, Watergate receded from the public’s focus and the sculptures quietly adorned my parents’ home.

Then Robert Mueller started a special investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election of Donald Trump. With impeachment for political malfeasance once again in the air, the public renewed its interest in the Nixon impeachment. Washington Post reporter Jessica Contrera interviewed my mom and late father, resulting in an article highlighting the relevance of the Watergate hearings and investigation to the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in American elections.

One thing led to another and the Watergate sculptures went on display at George Washington University’s Luther W. Brady Art Gallery in the final pre-pandemic days of 2020. Wednesday marks the opening originally scheduled for April of 2020. Please join in celebrating my mother’s artistic eye. Register here.