Profile Description

Paint and stitch are combined with discarded cloth, paper and found materials to create unique layered surfaces. The rituals of drawing and making mark the passing of time. The history and familiarity of the worn cotton, linen and paper surfaces inform the narratives contained within Cas Holmes work:

For every artist, there is the what – what they make – and there is the why – the reason they are compelled to make. And then there is the place where these two converge to make art. Cas Holmes is fascinated by these zones of convergence in the making of art as well as in the concrete world that inspires it. Her fascination is reflected in her work, both in its subject matter, which explores the intersections of the spaces life inhabits: the green spaces in urban areas, the verges of highways, the trees in a city park; and in its techniques of joining cloth and paper.
Everything she uses – the materials, the substrate, the techniques – are in service to her vision. ‘It’s neither material driven nor idea driven,’ she says of her work. She keeps a sketchbook, but she doesn’t sit down with an idea firmly in mind and try to make it concrete. Rather, she follows an internal thread that weaves its way from piece to piece so the whole body of work is connected subliminally about the idea.

Ricë Freeman-Zachery

Early studies in textile and paper arts in Japan (funded by the Churchill Fellowship and The Japan Foundation) followed by more recent research in India enabled the artist to adapt processes and develop a unique response the use of found materials and cloth as a means to process techniques and ideas.