biography
artists statement
However carefully we move through the world our impact, be it great or small, is constant. Fiona Cassidy’s work expresses her abiding fascination with the aftermath. Her inspiration is the ‘made’ environment, the human imprint; her materials are selected from the items we discard or leave behind; her style of working is deliberately simple, relying largely on manual techniques – fabric is hand-stitched, cardboard cut and fixed with paper tape, sand is moulded into shape.
Empty builders’ sacks, jiffy bags, plastic flowerpots, stacks of chairs, even flakes of old paint are deployed sparingly to create freestanding sculptures and installations. These autonomous structures serve to illustrate the intrinsic beauty of the commonplace and the lowly while amplifying the connection between people and the constructed space they inhabit. Eventually these sculptures will be broken down into their component parts and re-used – nothing is wasted.
Cassidy explores both the hierarchy we impose on our objects and challenges the priorities of our way of life. We are invited to stop in our tracks, to look differently at places and materials, to share her love of and concern for our immediate environment and to delight in the small things which travel with us through our lives.
cv
FIONA CASSIDY lives and works in Bath, UK
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
| 2003 – 2010 | BA Fine Art, part time study, Bath Spa University |
| 2002 – 2003 | Foundation Art and Design Diploma, City of Bath College – Distinction |
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
| 2010 | Fiona Cassidy – Bath Spa Gallery, Weston-super-Mare |
| 2009 | Spike Sculpture Dispatch Office – Spike Island, Bristol |
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
| 2010 | Consuming Nature – The Octagon, Bath |
| . | Here Today Gone Tomorrow – Milsom Pace, Bath |
| . | The Grey Area at Spike Open – Spike Island, Bristol |
| . | 52 – Room 202, Gloucester Road, Bristol |
| 2009 | Salon 09 – Matt Roberts Arts, Vyner Street, London |
| . | Espy – Bath Spa University |
| . | Introspective – Free Range, Truman Brewery, London |
| . | Bath Spa Degree Show – Bath Spa University |
| . | Wilderness 09 – The American Museum in Britain, Bath |
| . | Art House Gravy – The Blue Rooms, Bath |
| . | Because we never have before – The Old Print Room Gallery, Bath Spa University |
| 2008 | Control Art Delete – Free Range, Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London |
| . | Wilderness 2 – The American Museum in Britain, Claverton Down, Bath |
| . | Locus – Fringe Arts Bath, 1 Saville Row, Bath |
| 2007 | Wilderness – The American Museum in Britain, Claverton Down, Bath |
| . | Better Late Than Never – Bath Spa University Gallery, Sion Hill, Bath |
| 2004 | Out There – 18 Monmouth Place, Bath |
AWARDS
| 2009 | Short listed Metro Recreate 2 |
| 2007 | Short listed for Kenneth Armitage Sculpture Prize |