Artist Statement

I create a mood and feeling of dynamic tension in my work by playfully manipulating the planes and facets of the patterns against each other. The stresses that this creates helps me achieve maximum impact within the overall design and stretch the material to its limits. When creating a piece, the most exciting moment for me is when my handdrawn designs are mapped onto a structure and then taken to another level by heavily carving into it. The hue of the material is crucial because I rarely use colour, I also rely on the piece itself to dramatise the tones and textures through the effects of light and shadow.

In my early work, I explored the boundaries of my newfound modus operandi, which was infused with the heavily carved Islamic architecture. This led me to look to other styles of intricately carved and constructed buildings. In addition, I was inspired by the repetitive motifs of patterns derived from the influences of North African surface design.

Delving deeper into these architectural influences and looking closer at structures of past and contemporary building styles, I became intrigued by the internal space and construction, which were articulated together on the external surface envelope. These relationships have informed my work as I strive to unify not only internal and external forms, but also the parts of the whole. In this respect, I am reminded of the Greek principle of the Golden Section, namely that, the smaller is to the larger as the larger is to the whole.

Subsequently, my work was influenced by the balance of masculine and feminine forms and contours. There appeared to be a distinct pattern of behaviour, of the viewers emerging, solely based on gender. In general, women gravitated toward the spherical forms with curvilinear contours whereas the squarer form with hard-edge contours tended to elicit more interest from men.

More recently I have become interested in cutting more dramatically into the original form, sometimes to the point where the form begins to distort and becomes no longer recognisable as a geometric volume.

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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.
    – Helaine Blumenfeld OBE FRBS Dlitt

  • Her signature material is clay, which she moulds and carves with natural authority and no little dexterity. Her crisply cut and satisfying forms live on in the mind… She is a force of nature.
    – Andrew Lambirth, Art Critic - Spectator Magazine

  • 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)

  • Working mostly with ‘naked clay’, that is without the use of glaze or slip, Cassell first carefully carves and then smoothes and burnishes to remove any blemishes, so virtually making the surface ‘ disappear’, leaving the form clean and prominent
    – Emmanuel Cooper

  • 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

  • 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

  • I find her work uplifting, I would never consider buying it solely as an investment
    – Eric Knowles (Ceramics Expert)

  • 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