My daughter found some clay, collected a handful and made a little bowl with it. The children begged to go back to the same place for a walk - a large meadow near my parents house with a little dog training area at the side in the woods. They like playing in there while I walk around the meadow and in the steep bank they found clay. They found a different colour on the second visit, so we now have brown and red clay in a bag on the patio.
Since they seemed so excited about it I suggested we go to the Watts Gallery on their inset day (another one!!!) and see all the different coloured bowls. They hummed and hawed and decided the cake was good enough to risk being dragged around a gallery by Mummy!
The exhibition was fab! They were genuinely interested in the fact that she carves the clay rather than just builds with it and it's left unglazed showing the amazing range of natural colours. We looked at all the different textures she achieves in the clay which are very subtle but definitely 'there'.
I was fascinated by the fact that she's a sculptor working in many different mediums, it explained about the carving of the clay. Below are examples of her work. The top left is a work in progress in marble, top middle is black walnut and top right is a piece commissioned by the Watts Gallery made from clay sourced in a local seam of terracotta. The design is inspired by the work of Mary Watts (co-founder of the Watts Gallery and ceramicist).
The bottom right is bronze and the final two pictures are of small maquettes made to practise and troubleshoot a design before the main piece is made.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is her ongoing project 'Virtues of Unity'. Halima is gathering many different types of clay from around the world. This is what's written about the project in the gallery:
"The inspiration for Virtues of Unity came from Cassell's 2009 visit to Pakistan to undertake an artistic residency. Being introduced during her residency as a 'foreigner from England' caused Cassell to question her identity in the country of her birth. Classed as a 'foreigner' or 'second-generation immigrant' in Britain where she grew up, Cassell felt a sense of double displacement. This led her to ask the questions: Can we really define who we are, or where our common roots lie? How do we imagine our shared humanity?
In response Cassell began making vessels in different clays gathered from around the world. These vessels are intended to stand for our common humanity, despite our apparent differences. Her complex designs celebrate the differences found in people and cultures but ultimately for Cassell, 'the installation is intentionally designed to highlight the elementary reality that we are all alike, coming from the clay of the earth and eventually all returning to that same elemental clay.’
It is an ongoing installation with new clay brought to Cassell from all over the globe. Each vessel is named after a human virtue. The newest vessels have been named after the virtues incorporated by Mary Watts into the Watts Chapel interior decoration."
The idea of an ongoing project that can seemingly never be finished is fascinating. It also seems like such a simple idea, and easy to understand, yet it's very powerful. I wonder whether some of the power is in it's simplicity.
We watched some of the film about her working in her studio and the children thought it looked wonderful - she has hanging bag swings and other things so that her children can play in her studio while she works, I said they must argue with each other less than my two do, if they were in the same room while I worked I'd be permanent referee and would get nothing done!
Overall I found it very inspiring. I noted how she can work across different media but has a very definite style. I wonder whether this is something that may apply to me and different printmaking techniques?