Crafts Council Collections Online
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Makers
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Maker
Lucy Casson
b. 1960
Brief biography
Lucy Casson was born in Buckinghamshire in 1960. She was raised in a creative household, with her parents, Sheila and Michael Casson, both practicing potters. Her upbringing gave her confidence from a young age to embark on a career as a maker, but rather than following the practice of her parents, she valued experimentation with a variety of materials. This curiosity presented a range of opportunities, refined through studies at the Hereford College of Art and a Textiles BA at Camberwell College of Arts (1978-1981).
Continuing her work with textiles, shortly after leaving Camberwell, Casson won a training award to investigate ikat weaving on power looms at Tonedale Mill in Somerset. In the highly focused and serious practice of weaving, as a means of creative release, she began to make small automated figures out of tin. She continued this practice, transforming previously discarded materials into objects. Her practice developed as a study of textile transformed into mechanical experiments with metal. The Crafts Council’s Handling Collection has a series of sculptures and automata that give insight into Casson’s creative process during this period.
By the mid-’90s, Casson moved on from mechanisms, focusing on static, free-standing sculptures inspired by observations of people and animal, scenarios and their gestures and moods. The objects have transformed over time, people and animals merging together to create invented characters. Her practice has continued with the use of a broad range of predominantly found materials, from sheet metal, bronze and cast iron, wood, plaster polymers, textiles and ceramics. Alongside exhibitions and installations of sculptural works, Casson works on larger scale public art works for hospitals, parks and public spaces.
Continuing her work with textiles, shortly after leaving Camberwell, Casson won a training award to investigate ikat weaving on power looms at Tonedale Mill in Somerset. In the highly focused and serious practice of weaving, as a means of creative release, she began to make small automated figures out of tin. She continued this practice, transforming previously discarded materials into objects. Her practice developed as a study of textile transformed into mechanical experiments with metal. The Crafts Council’s Handling Collection has a series of sculptures and automata that give insight into Casson’s creative process during this period.
By the mid-’90s, Casson moved on from mechanisms, focusing on static, free-standing sculptures inspired by observations of people and animal, scenarios and their gestures and moods. The objects have transformed over time, people and animals merging together to create invented characters. Her practice has continued with the use of a broad range of predominantly found materials, from sheet metal, bronze and cast iron, wood, plaster polymers, textiles and ceramics. Alongside exhibitions and installations of sculptural works, Casson works on larger scale public art works for hospitals, parks and public spaces.
