Publications

Virtues of Unity

Virtues of Unity

 An installation representing virtues of humanity by Halima Cassell

A publication about "Virtues of Unity" with a essay by Andrew Lambirth and artist statement by Halima explaining the concept, ideas and process behind the creation of this installation.

"Virtues of Unity, it is about the human condition and, fundamental to our perception of this, unity through diversity. Halima’s idea is to make at least one sculpture to represent each country of the world..." Andrew Lambirth 

Designed by HLJ Marketing 

Available from: The artist for £7.50 plus £1.50 postage and packaging, please use the PayPal link below:

Dreams Made Manifest

Dreams Made Manifest

ISBN 978-0-9539636-4-5

This publication includes an interview with the artist and contributions from writers internationally acclaimed in the fields of sculpture, architecture, ceramics, craft curatorship, art sponsorship, critical thinking and journalism.

“Cassell’s Work Is Subliminal in its originality, having no parallel in the sculptural or crafts genres, whose borders it crosses.” Jean Vacher, Collections Manger, Crafts Study Centre, Farnham

“Her profound understanding of the geometric rules governing any given pattern, allow her to bend, or even break them.” Peter Randell-Page, Sculptor

“Halima’s work demonstrates incredible dedication and energy; one thing is clear, she will be among the future pathfinders and leaders.” Alan Grieve, Chairman, The Jerwood Foundation

Designed by REFORM | Available from: Out of print

Carved Earth

Carved Earth

ISBN 0-9545563-4-8

Carved Earth: Sculptural Ceramics brings together over thirty newly-commissioned artworks by the inspirational ceramicist Halima Cassell. Conceived by Shisha – the international agency for contemporary South Asian crafts and visual arts – in partnership with Bolton Museum and Art Gallery.

This unique publication features an enlightening essay and review by Emmanuel Cooper and Jonathan Harris respectively, both of which give the work a broad appeal.

Cassel’s recent work celebrates influences of both Islamic and African architectural patterns – beautifully articulated by Dalu Jones

“Islamic art is an art of repose, intellectual rather than emotional, where tensions are resolved. It is a conceptual art where questions and answers are finely balanced.”

Designed by REFORM | Available from:  Out of print

‘Light Structures’, Halima Cassell at Blackwell

‘Light Structures’, Halima Cassell at Blackwell

ISBN 978-1-906043-13-1

The publication is an overall insight of the solo exhibition of Halima Cassell at Blackwell, Windermere, with an insightful essay by Andrew Lambirth

“Halima Cassell is a maker of considerable versatility, who has extended her signature work in clay to a range of new materials, including marble, glass and porcelain.”

“Her main preoccupation and sculptural impulse is to penetrate beneath the skin of the form to reveal the structure within – the crystalline seed of the stone, or the skeleton-like armature she perceives within the clay. She does not carve exteriors but reveals interiors – the folded abstract inner landscapes of her singular and highly imaginative vision.”

Fondazione SEM, Halima Cassell, Residency in Pietrasanta, Italy 2011

Fondazione SEM, Halima Cassell, Residency in Pietrasanta, Italy 2011

Diary of events, by Halima Cassell for her three months spent in Pietrasanta, Italy.

Foreword by Helaine Blumenfeld OBE FRBS Dlitt

“She set very high standards for herself and was tireless in her efforts to reach them. After just three months she was able to carry out complex, compelling, delicate and dynamic work.”

“She was sketching constantly and continually sought to transpose her drawings into sculptural forms. The surface, as well as the shapes, emerged together in sculpture which often combined enormous complexity with simplicity and unity.”

Available from: Keara McMartin | e: info@studiosem.net | Studio SEM, Pietrasanta, Italy

Araam: Breathing Space

Araam: Breathing Space

ISBN 978-0-9567755-1-1

Araam was conceived to enable ‘breathing space’ for both artists to research, develop new ideas and experiment with creative disciplines. Whilst Cassell and Hussain use very different artistic mediums, both are inspired by their ancestral heritage, and Islamic influences from pattern and architecture resonate throughout their work.

Lucy Forsyth, Freelance writer and Yoga teacher 
One reading that can be made of Halima’s work is that she, as Other to the Modernist canon, as both female and from non-western culture orientation, has been working from this position of marginality. Her work can be seen as questioning the formalism of this object-based Modernism and challenging its perception of beauty. Every new project and every new pioneering adaptation of forms, materials and techniques illustrates this.

Duad Sutton, Cairo
Drawing freely on a wide range of influences, such as Islamic geometric art and African carving, her work elicit a similarly wide range of responses in the viewers. It is often difficult to draw on such a range of sources without falling into pastiche and Cassell has managed this admiral. Her works appears both ancient and contemporary, and could hail from any of several continents, but always read as balanced integral wholes.

Designed by REFORM | Available from: The artist |  e: info@halimacassell.com

Earth | Atmosphere

Earth | Atmosphere

Ceramic by Halima Cassell
A series of four exhibitions which were part of ‘The Shape of Things (TSOT),’ a new body of work in response to ‘Identity & Culture,’ essay by Elli Herring

“Cassell’s work encompasses and generates complexity and surprise. All of her sculptural work shares a language of geometry and volume but each is intriguingly different.”

Available from: The artist | e: info@halimacassell.com

The Pot Book

The Pot Book

ISBN 978-0-7148-4799-3

By Edmund de Waal, published by Phaidon 2011

The Pot Book is an accessible and informative A-Z guide to over 300 makers, schools and styles of ceramics from around the world. Include some of the earliest examples of pottery through to contemporary works by studio potters and artists alike.

Available from: Any good book shop

  • Cassell’s work encompasses and generates complexity and surprise. All of her sculptural work shares a language of geometry and volume but each is intriguingly different
    – Elli Herring

  • Halima’s work demonstrates incredible dedication and energy; one thing is clear, she will be among the future pathfinders and leaders.
    – Alan Grieve, Chairman, The Jerwood Foundation

  • She set very high standards for herself and was tireless in her efforts to reach them. After just three months she was able to carry out complex, compelling, delicate and dynamic work.
    – Helaine Blumenfeld OBE FRBS Dlitt

  • I love this artist’s work. How she keeps her molten flowing themes through different media – stone, concrete, wood and even glass. Long to touch them. What a unique eye and hand she has. Wonderful.
    – Maureen Lepman

  • It is not easy to put into words the effect that Halima Cassell’s remarkable ceramic sculptures have on you when you first encounter a well displayed section of her work
    – Zachary Kingdom

  • The geometry and the mathematics involved in Halima’s work have the same effect on me as listening to Bach: she manages to get the same essential harmony of shape, form and detail. Her pieces are deeply fashioned, which is unusual in ceramics
    – Eric Knowles (Ceramics Expert)

  • While working, Cassell becomes deeply involved in each piece to the point where she is unaware of her surroundings even watching her work on a piece for a few minutes, it is obvious that the process commands all her attention
    – Emmanuel Cooper

  • Beautiful – amazing to see someone work with such a variety of material to create such stunning, intricate pieces. I can imagine them out in the world, near water and nature. Beautiful, thank you.
    –

  • The work is of a high standard and creates an interesting contrast to the Da Vinci drawing. Can see the evolution of the process and the sculptures convey different ideas and theories. An excellent artist.
    – Jina

  • Her main preoccupation and sculptural impulse is to penetrate beneath the skin of the form to reveal the structure within – the crystalline seed of the stone, or the skeleton-like armature she perceives within the clay. She does not carve exteriors but reveals interiors – the folded abstract inner landscapes of her singular and highly imaginative vision.
    – Andrew Lambirth, Art Critic - Spectator Magazine