Halima Cassell's 'Vestige' - a recent RFA commission

Halima Cassell 'Vestige' hand carved, unglazed, stoneware clay 27.8 x 47 cm Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund: Reading Abbey Revealed Project and the Reading Foundation for Art, 2023

In 2021 the Contemporary Art Society, supported by Reading Foundation for Art, and the Heritage Lottery Fund, through the Reading Abbey Revealed project, commissioned Halima Cassell to make a sculpture in response to the important decorative carved stones from Reading Abbey.  She has created something extraordinary for the town.

"The resulting work has an energy and intuitive beauty that goes beyond any calculations. It also pushes the boundaries of what is physically possible in carved clay" The Contemporary Art Society

Halima, a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, has been recognised as one of the leading figures in contemporary British studio pottery. Following the success of her debut solo show, Carved Earth, Halima's abstract sculptures became highly sought after, and were bought by the V&A, along with 16 other prominent museums around the world, and Reading Museum is proud to be one of these.

The artist at work on the commission in 2022 - a response to Reading's Romanesque Abbey stones

Anywhere between 100 and 250 hours goes into each sculpture, making for pieces of art that are intricate in design and captivating in appearance.

In 2022, Cassell was invited by Reading Museum to develop a new commission, a carved clay sculpture, in response to the Romanesque Reading Abbey stones. These are arguably the most historically significant works of art in the Reading Museum collection and are some of the few remaining examples of the flowering of stone carving in England in the eleventh century.

There are strong connections between Cassell’s deeply carved, brilliantly calculated surfaces and the Romanesque aesthetic, which was itself influenced by Moorish art and architecture.

Cassell’s stoneware is heavily imbedded with grog – crushed or ground ceramic material, reintroduced to raw clay prior to shaping and firing – and as a result, the texture of Vestige is akin to sandstone. This creates an aesthetic synergy with the stones but also a surprise for visitors discovering the medium. Vestige sits among the abbey capitols in Reading Museum’s collection to bring a new artistic perspective to the abbey stones and to celebrate their international significance.

The art collection at Reading Museum has strengths in both sculpture and ceramic work, and the new sculpture will add a contemporary vision.

The Reading Museum’s Contemporary Collection aims to address specific communities in Reading – in this case, art lovers and people of Islamic heritage – reflecting the diverse nature of Reading’s communities and creating relevance, reflection, linkage and contrast between the past and the present.

Already a key part of the Reading Foundation for Art collection, 'Vestige' has appeared frequently in recent exhibitions at Reading Museum - pictured here in the Sir John Madejeski galleries in 2022

Halima’s work combines her South Asian heritage with a love of architectural decoration in all sorts of cultures and specifically the power of carving to articulate architectural forms. The likelihood of the remarkable Romanesque capitols from Reading Abbey inspiring an exceptional contemporary work by an artist whose Islamic background and mastery of mathematics informs all her designs, was always high. The resulting work has an energy and intuitive beauty that goes beyond any calculations. It also pushes the boundaries of what is physically possible in carved clay.

(with thanks to the Contemporary Art Society for this detailed overview of the commission). https://contemporaryartsociety.org/objects/vestige-2023