Places-Spaces-Traces

It is not often that you come across an artist that plays between the worlds of human and natural. Most find inspiration either in one or the other; we are all familiar with textile work that holds urbanity or nature as its core inspiration. However, Cas has found a third way, the point where both touch, not collide, but touch. This haunted land full of “the shadows of marks made by man in the earth”, of “reflections in water and flooded fields”, of “gardens and seasons changing”, is one that is often missed by the passer-by and artist alike, but it is a rich and rewarding place as Cas has shown in her work. It is an inspirational well of harmony and balance, as well as of conflict and division. Something shared and something complimentary, as she says herself “We have an intimate relationship with the land, but equally share ‘common connection’. 

John Hopper, The Edgelands of Cas Holmes, Fiber Art Now 2014, (also used by kind permission of the Author and Fiber Arts Now for the introduction to Stitch Stories. 

Trees installation (Farnham Pottery) and at the World of Threads Festival, Canada

I seek the connection to the world around us, where our sense of the personal and urban space meets the 'hidden' or overlooked places of the broader landscape.
Connecting Stitch to Place, short video by Textileartist.org on their Facebook page.

'Commonplace' things such as the intimate  views from our windows, and the seasonal changes in our gardens, to the broader interest of wild flower habitat on the verges of our roadsides and field edges and the low lying land of my native Norfolk, in (waterland). Intuitive in its response to the linear, textural and light qualities to be found in the landscape, compositions evolve from the marks stained, scratched,  drawn and stitched into the surfaces of found materials and cloth as part of the process its creation.

Installations and collaboration form an important part of my practice. 

Unfolding Landscape, Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery with Art Textiles Made in Britain 

You can see more images reflecting my work on my website.

      Visions Art Museum, San Diego

'Capturing a moment before it is gone,Cas Holmes brings inspiration down to earth where each or us can grab hold of it anytime, anywhere, if we are of the mind to be open to everything around us…the most familiar, the most ordinary, and how it all is really extraordinary…the pure, joyful, simplicity of it all.

Amy Mimu Rubin (Artist)

Parc Du Monod, Le Mans, France

Blue Thistle (left) B is for Bird (right).  Mattress ticking and old pillowcases have been used in these pieces. I re-use natural and synthetic materials, found or given to me. Including discarded paint rags, old clothing and even mattress ticking dumped on a verge.  My concern ties in with issues of sustainability, considered use of resources and the impact this has on flora and fauna.

Wisteria (left) and Crimson Flower (right) The backing cloth contains images of Poppies, Daisies and Cornflowers and was donated to me in the Netherlands alongside the lace. Both pieces use old net curtains and fragments of tea stained linen cloth/clothing .

    Waterland (left) and Tea Flora Tales installation

The Tea-Flora-Tales,  project with contributions from individual makers and groups as well as Embroiderers Guild concluded at the Knitting and Stitching Show in 2018 where is started it journey in 2012 and at Rochester Cathedral in Medway Spring 2019.

Follow this link for an animated version Help to preserve our wildflowers, verges, wild spaces and their related habitats by visiting www.plantlife.org.uk or you can donate direct.

Glimpse of Wayside Weeds at The Front Room Gallery, Beaney. Canterbury

When we visited there was a throng of people of all ages coming and going, some clearly were artists or makers but most were people who were enjoying a quiet few minutes away from the Christmas High Street to explore her works on display. The colours are truly beautiful, vibrant and subtle at the same time - over-laid and re-worked with beautifully drawn and intricate needle-work, ‘stitch-sketching’, scraps of text, fleeting observations from nature, formal and wild, local and universal and occasionally the unexpected. Strips of gloriously restructured fabric hangs and float from suspended frames reminiscent of the scraps of fabric taken from dresses and clothes past worn, which can be seen adorning some village graves in Turkey – very natural, very real, just life. Wall hung pieces are more substantial, often lightly quilted but with that same attention to detail; so many stories told from one piece to another. I particularly like the smaller post-card sized pieces collaboration strung onto ribbon hanging in the corridor windows which include decorated lace, text, scraps but all with a completeness that is very satisfying.

Sue Pellagrino, Canterbury Resident and retired therapist.

All images and text copyright Cas Holmes 2018.

All rights reserved.