“Echo of Watergate: Sculptures by Jane Mason” Virtual Reception featuring Watergate prosecutor, Jill Wine-Banks
Please join us for a special virtual reception celebrating the exhibition Echo of Watergate, displaying the sculptural portraits of Watergate personages by Jane Mason. Created while watching the Watergate trials, Mason’s busts capture the personalities of Senator Sam Ervin, Bob Haldeman, Senator Daniel Inouye, and John Mitchell, among others.
Jill Wine-Banks, a prosecutor during the Watergate trials will speak about her recollections of the people she encountered during that fateful time in American democracy. The talk will be followed by a Q&A with Mason and Wine-Banks moderated by Jessica Contrera of The Washington Post. This event will take place on Zoom.
The exhibition is on view in the Media and Public Affairs Building at the George Washington University through December 17, 2021.
About Jane Mason
Jane Mason received a master’s degree from the University of Chicago in English and art and has spent most of her life immersed in the art world. She founded the art school, Cellar Art Scene that grew to 90 students, which she ran for 19 years and taught both children's and adult classes. She has also been broadly recognized for her work and her contribution to the arts, including the 2003 McColl Award for Lifetime Achievement to the Mint Museum of Craft + Design; 1996 Co-Chair of the Smithsonian Craft Show; 2004 Honorary Lifetime Member of the American Association of Woodturning; 1993-1995 Secretary of the James Renwick Alliance Board; Founding member and past president of the Collectors of Wood Art (CWA); and past Chair of the Art and Technology Committee of the Board of Visitors of the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia.
Ms. Mason foresaw the coming computer world very early. After taking computer classes at GW, she temporarily moved away from art and founded a computer training company that she operated for 19 years before selling it and returning to the art world. Her firm conducted computer classes and consulted for area businesses, firms, government agencies, and individuals. Throughout her illustrious career, Ms. Mason has always found time to sketch, sculpt, and paint. While watching the Watergate hearings in 1973, she sculpted life-size busts of the principals of the hearings. These were on exhibit at various times at the Woman’s National Democratic Club, the Washington Palm Restaurant and a private home during a reception for the opening of the movie All the President’s Men. Some of the busts were later owned by Senator Sam Ervin, Senator Daniel Inouye, Sam Dash, and individual collectors. These busts have also been featured in a local news report and a Washington Post article.
About Jill Wine-Banks
Jill Wine-Banks is currently an MSNBC Legal Analyst, appearing regularly on primetime and daytime shows. She also appears on PBS, Canadian and Australian networks, Sirius XM, NPR and other radio shows, including Stephanie Miller’s, and podcasts. Ms. Wine-Banks began her career as the first woman to serve as an organized crime prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. After just over four years, her trial capabilities and win record led to her selection as one of the three Assistant Watergate Special Prosecutors, where she was again the only woman, in the obstruction of justice trial against President Nixon's top aides, including his Attorney General, Chief of Staff, and Chief Domestic Adviser. She was a major player in the Watergate tapes hearing, cross examining Rose Mary Woods, President Nixon’s secretary, about the 18 ½ minute gap in a key White House recording. Wine-Banks details her experience in her memoir The Watergate Girl.
At the conclusion of the Watergate case, Ms. Wine-Banks entered private practice at the Washington, D.C. offices of Fried Frank Harris Shriver and Kampelman, before being named General Counsel of the U.S. Army by President Carter. More recently Ms. Wine-Banks was appointed by the Secretary of Defense to the Judicial Proceedings Panel’s Subcommittee on Sexual Assault in the military, where she served from 2014 to 2017. Her Subcommittee held hearings in D.C. and on military installations in the U.S. and abroad and made seven reports recommending improvements to the military’s handling of sexual assault cases, many of which have been adopted or enacted into legislation. You can read more about Ms. Wine-Banks’ career and experience at jillwinebanks.com