Halima Cassell

Last updated

Halima Jade Cassell MBE FRSS (born 1975) is a British sculptor and ceramicist working in many materials. She was born in Pakistan and brought up in Lancashire, England, now living in Shropshire. [1] [2] Her work is described as having "strong geometric elements and recurrent patterns that are often inspired by the repetitive motifs found in Islamic architecture and North African surface design". [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Cassell was born in Kashmir, Pakistan, and moved to Lancashire, England with her family as a child. She has a BTEC National Diploma in Art and Design from Blackburn College (1994), a BA (hons) in 3D design (1997) and an MA in Design (2002) from University of Central Lancashire (1997), and a PDQ in Technology for Designer Makers (2003) from Manchester City College. [4]

Career

Bow Wave, 2012, Victoria and Albert Museum, London Bow Wave by Halima Cassell, V&A London.jpg
Bow Wave, 2012, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Cassell had a major exhibition Halima Cassell: Eclectica–global inspirations at Manchester Art Gallery 2 February 2019– 5 January 2020. [5] She describes her work as "Combining strong geometric elements with recurrent patterns and architectural principles". [6]

Her works are held in many public collections in the UK [4] including the Victoria and Albert Museum (Dark Trivalve, 2008) [7] and the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Calliope, 2013, purchased with funding from the Art Fund). [8]

Her public art can be seen in Blackburn, the Forest of Bowland, the Ribble Valley (six ceramic works in the Ribble Valley Sculpture Trail), [9] [10] Leicester, Nottingham and Liverpool. [5] [4]

In 2018 Cassell won the Sovereign Asian Art Prize for her bronze work Acapella. [3]

Cassell is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Sculptors. [11]

Cassell was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to art. [12]

Style

Cassell's carved forms are inspired by architecture and geometry as well as natural shapes. [13] She works in high-relief which in turn creates a "play of light and shadow on the forms". [14] Commonly, Cassell works using bronze, ceramics, glass, stone, and wood, however she has been known to use other materials such as wallpaper. [13] These natural materials match the simplicity of the forms she uses as the basis of her works, in doing so, Cassell heightens the impact of the "complex surface patterns" and dramatic angles. [1] Consequently, her works create an "unsettling sense of movement." [1]

Her style has been described as "instantly recognisable due to her bold, energetic designs, crisp carving and her deep understanding of how to integrate pattern, form, material and scale". [13]

She was inspired by the repetitive motifs found in North African surface design, Islamic designs, and English architecture in her early career. [1]

In more recent years Cassell's works have been enriched by her travels throughout Britain and Italy, Japan and Pakistan. [13] Her interest in patterns, geometry and symmetry has given way to organic curves and asymmetrical forms. [13] Subsequently, Cassell's work has been influenced by an emphasis on the balance between masculine and feminine contours. [1]

She has gone on to use new materials to present her ideas and designs, one being wallpaper. [15] [16] Cassell's designs are textured and embossed, and display different levels of surface to capture and reflect the light. [14]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maya Lin</span> American designer and artist (born 1959)

Maya Ying Lin is an American designer and sculptor. In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Whitworth</span> Art gallery in Manchester, England

The Whitworth is an art gallery in Manchester, England, containing over 60,000 items in its collection. The gallery is located in Whitworth Park and is part of the University of Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Graves</span> American painter

Nancy Graves was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and sometime-filmmaker known for her focus on natural phenomena like camels or maps of the Moon. Her works are included in many public collections, including those of the National Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), the Des Moines Art Center, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the Museum of Fine Arts. When Graves was just 29, she was given a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. At the time she was the youngest artist, and fifth woman to achieve this honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isa Genzken</span> German contemporary artist (born 1948)

Isa Genzken is a German artist who lives and works in Berlin. Her primary media are sculpture and installation, using a wide variety of materials, including concrete, plaster, wood and textile. She also works with photography, video, film and collage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Echelman</span> American sculptor and artist

Janet Echelman is an American sculptor and fiber artist. Her sculptures have been displayed as public art, often as site-specific installations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucienne Day</span> British textile designer

Désirée Lucienne Lisbeth Dulcie Day OBE RDI FCSD was one of the most influential British textile designers of the 1950s and 1960s. Day drew on inspiration from other arts to develop a new style of abstract pattern-making in post-war British textiles, known as ‘Contemporary’ design. She was also active in other fields, such as wallpapers, ceramics and carpets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary White (textile designer)</span> English textile designer (1930–2020)

Mary Lillian White later Mary Dening was an English textile designer known for several iconic textile prints of the 1950s. Her designs were very popular and extensively copied in many 1950s homes, as well as in cabins aboard the RMS Queen Mary and at Heathrow Airport. She was also a commercial potter and ceramist, who in the 1960s founded Thanet Pottery, in partnership with her brother David White.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison Wilding</span> English artist

Alison Mary Wilding OBE, RA is an English artist noted for her multimedia abstract sculptures. Wilding's work has been displayed in galleries internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Marsden</span> English sculptor

Walter Marsden (1882–1969) was an English sculptor born in Lancashire. He saw active service in the First World War and was awarded the Military Cross. After the war, like many other sculptors who were also ex-servicemen, he carried out sculptural work on war memorials. Most of these were erected in Lancashire.

Marylyn Dintenfass is an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor. She is primarily known for her oil paintings, which use a dynamic color palette and lexicon of gestural imagery to explore dualities in the human experience and everyday sensual pleasures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Hadcock</span> British sculptor (born 1965)

Charles William George Hadcock is a British sculptor known for his monumental sculptures that incorporate elements of geology, engineering, and mathematics. Hadcock's work also draws inspiration from music, philosophy, and poetry. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EQ Nicholson</span> British painter and textile designer (1908–1992)

EQ Nicholson was an British painter and textile designer.

Nathalie Du Pasquier is a Milan-based artist and designer mostly known for her work as a founding member of the Memphis Group. Her early body of work includes furniture, textiles, clothing designs and jewelry in addition to iconic work in decoration and patterns. Since 1987, she has consistently dedicated herself to painting.

Carole Steyn is a British abstract and figurative painter, sculptor, pastellist and ceramicist who works with a wide range of materials and lives in London. Steyn's work draws on a range of influences, including her Russian Constructivism-inspired freestanding sculptures; and Bas-Reliefs reminiscent of Nevelson and Camargo.

Lilias Marianne Ar de Soif Farley was a Canadian painter, sculptor, designer, and muralist in realism and abstraction. In 1967, she was awarded the Centennial Medal for Service to the Nation in the Arts. She was an alumna of the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts and was a member of the school's first graduating class.

Shannon Bool is a Canadian artist. Bool lives and works in Berlin.

Bethan Laura Wood she is an internationally-recognised English designer of jewellery, furniture, decorative objects, lighting and installations. She has designed for such media as glass, laminates and ceramics. Work produced by her studio, WOOD London, is characterised by colour, geometry and visual metaphor, pattern and marquetry. She has been described as "[re-contextualizing] ... elements from everyday objects, often focusing on the pattern and coloration of objects as indicators of their origins, production, and past usage."

Jacqui Poncelet, also known as Jacqueline Poncelet, is a Belgian artist. Poncelet began her art career as a ceramist in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1980s her practice expanded to include painting, sculpture and public art.

Faye Toogood is a British designer based in London. She started her career working as an editor and stylist at The World of Interiors before founding her own studio in 2008. Her work spans furniture, interiors, and fashion.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "About the Artist". www.halimacassell.com. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  2. ↑ "Halima Cassell". Académie Internationale de la Céramique. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Halima Cassell Wins 2018 Sovereign Asian Art Prize". Artforum. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 "Biography". Halima Cassell. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Halima Cassell: Eclectica–global inspirations". Manchester Art Gallery . Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  6. ↑ "Artist and Sculptor". Halima Cassell. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  7. ↑ "Dark Trivalve". Victoria and Albert Museum . Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  8. ↑ "Calliope". Art Fund . Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  9. ↑ Jacobs, Bill (23 November 2018). "Revitalised Ribble Valley sculpture trail is back on track". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  10. ↑ "Sculpture Guide" (PDF). Ribble Valley Sculpture Trail. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  11. ↑ "Halima Cassell". Royal Society of Sculptors. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  12. ↑ "No. 63218". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2020. p. N16.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "Halima Cassell: Eclectica–global inspirations". Manchester Art Gallery. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  14. 1 2 "New Halima Cassell exhibition opens". European Union News. 13 August 2012.
  15. ↑ "Wallpaper". www.halimacassell.com. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  16. ↑ "Graham & Brown. Press Pack Design". Reform Creative. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.