Nicola Tassie: Sweet Dreams

Nicola Tassie is a ceramicist who initially studied painting at the Central School of Art. The crossover between the painted image and mark making in clay is a continuing preoccupation in her practice. Her wall-mounted ‘slip pillows’ playfully evoke a painted canvas on the wall, and present us with a contemporary dialogue about ceramics as art, and not just as objects. 

Her use of slip trailing and feathering - a delicate technique - is rooted in the tradition of early slipware from the 17^thand 18^th centuries, yet also references the influence of graffiti ‘tags’ today. Nicola is intrigued by the notion of a visual language that has not quite formed – the intimation of a ‘scrawl’ or tantalisingly illegible text. Then there is the desire to convey the pleasure of working in wet clay, where experimentation can be both random, yet to a degree, controlled.

The series invites multiple reflections on the meaning and place that ceramics hold for us in our daily life, and how we can elevate and understand their place within the cannon of art.

Nicola’s works have been exhibited in London at Collect International Art Fair for Craft and Design 2015, 2017, 2019;  Fog Design Fair in San Francisco, 2017; Tremenare Sculpture Park, Cornwall, 2017. She was selected for the Crafts Council’s Future Made program and exhibited during Miami Design Week, 2016; and is now represented by Hostler Burrows gallery in USA. She has an on-going collaboration with the designer Margaret Howell, making limited editions tableware and designs for lighting. 

She works from her studio in east London.