Lisa Mason
Collection responsibility: Working with fashion and textiles from 1850 to the present day.
Research interests: Post-war textile design in Britain, émigré designers, artist textiles and modern tapestry.
Lisa studied textile design at Dundee University and history of art at the university of Edinburgh. Prior to joining National Museums Scotland, Lisa worked at Dundee University Museum Services, The Talbot Rice Gallery and National Galleries Scotland.
Lisa is particularly interested in modernist textile design in post-war Britain and was able to pursue her research and collecting in this field through the Art Fund’s New Collecting Award, awarded in 2018.
In 2021 Lisa co-curated the major retrospective exhibition ‘Archie Brennan: Tapestry Goes Pop!’ at Dovecot Studios. The exhibition was curated in partnership with Kate Grenyer with generous support from the Archie Brennan Estate, the Art Fund, The Cordis Trust, and the William Grant Foundation.
Following on from her New Collecting Award, Lisa is currently working on an exhibition and publication to celebrate the life and work of textile designer Bernat Klein (1922 – 2014), which will open at National Museums Scotland on 5th November 2022.
In addition to her work at National Museums Scotland Lisa is active within the wider sector. She is a trustee of the Bernat Klein Foundation and Chair of the Dress and Textile Specialists.
Selected publications
Lisa Mason and Kate Grenyer (eds.). Archie Brennan: Tapestry Goes Pop! Ednburgh: Allander, 2021.
Mason, Lisa. 'Illustrating the Design Process: The Bernat Klein Collection & Archive, National Museums Scotland' in Journal of Design History, Volume 31, Issue 3. 22 September 2018, pages 274–285.