Transcription

Shae: Welcome back to another episode of, “In Conversation With, my name is Shae Myles and I'm one half of Jiggle n Juice and I'm joined by the other half of Jiggle n Juice, Georgia Tooke! But most importantly, we are joined by Cassia Powell! And Georgia is going to introduce a little bit about Cassia and why we were so eager to talk to them today.

Georgia: So!! Cassia Powell and I went to school together. We went to UVic together. We actually grew up in the same town, but only became friends later in university and like just instantly fell in love. And we've been friends ever since. And, we just talk about art all the time. And I just feel like this was like dream trio, as I think all three of us would be able to just talk about art forever and ever. And so we are so excited to have you on our, um, I was going to say podcast, show, YouTube video. I would say all of the above!!

Shae: Show shows a nice, I like that… sounds like we're ~professionals~. 

Cassia: Total professionals. Well, welcome to the show. Yeah!!

Georgia: Oh, we're so excited to have you, why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your practice, um, what you do, 

Cassia: Okay. So. My name is Cassia! I am a practicing emerging//developing artists based in Victoria, BC. I graduated from UVic in 2020. I work primarily with, like extended painting… recently that's kind of been like my primary focus. But I do think I wear a lot of hats within the art world. I don't want to just like, say I'm a painter and have that be it. Let's see… I currently am like floating in between jobs right now. So I like to say that I'm an artist. 

Shae: I mean, quite!! Literally, quite right. You had your first, solo show, or you are currently having your first solo show? 

Cassia: Yeah. So I am having my first in person in real life, solo exhibition, many firsts!! And it's happening right now. 

Shae: That's so, so exciting! Do you feel like that is kind of like a milestone that you’ve been working towards, like, what did you think that means for your practice to have that? 

Cassia: Well, it's kind of surreal actually, because I feel like... when I was doing my undergraduate degree, we had to do like this one project where we put our artistic practice in like a five-year scope. And I was like, “one day I'll have a solo exhibition, but that's so far in the future. Like, I'll have to be a ~real artist~ by then!!” Um, so the fact that it came exactly like one year after graduating, it just feels so surreal.

Shae: It's honestly so well-deserved, I have been a massive fan of your work for … pretty much the entire time that I've known Georgia. So, yeah, it's obviously very well deserved. And your, professionalism is, as well as like your actual work and, the visuals that you're able to produce is like the reason we wanted to talk to you. So yeah. Massive congratulations!! 

Cassia: Thank you. It's it's so funny hearing you say that because like, from my perspective, I have no idea what I'm doing and, you know, I definitely feel like. I'm taking my first little baby steps into the art world. So it feels really nice to, to know that people think I'm professional.

Shae: You are, you absolutely are professional. If, if you are not professional, then I have no idea what I would be! 

Georgia: Also some of our Jiggle n Juice subscribers, our followers, might recognize Cassia Powell's name because we use their work as an example in most of our support docs actually for, artists bio and documenting your work. So you are absolutely a professional don't let anyone tell you different. 

Cassia: Thanks guys! 

Georgia: Yeah, this is actually just the whole show is just going to be us hyping you up. Spoiler alert. 

Shae: Do you want to tell us a little bit about, the show, the work that is on show? 

Cassia: Yes. Yeah. It's um, that's a big question.

So like it kind of starts with me graduating in 2020 and Georgia can attest to this because we graduated the same year from the same school. And I had been working on like this body of work to put into our graduation exhibition, which promptly got canceled due to COVID. And a lot of the work that I'd been doing was very meaningful.

And emotionally powerful for myself. And it was like a big peak moment in my artistic career. And all of a sudden it just kind of gets like cancelled and all this work that I've been sitting on is just floating through space. And of course, like it's, it was kind of like a difficult transition because, we had these like studio spaces we were working with and then we were told, “okay, you need to like evacuate, essentially, like get all of your shit and go.” And Georgia, and I put our work into our friend's basement and then fled the city. And I was like, kind of steering and simmering for a few months. Like, okay, what's going to happen? Like, what am I going to do with all this art? And we come back and our friend was like, “I'm so sorry, but my basement flooded. Cassia, your paintings were destroyed.” 

Shae: I actually heard about this and like, honestly, shed multiple tears for you. 

Cassia: I went through like, just like the worst, loss like, it was just like a feeling of like having a limb chopped off and my paintings were destroyed. I tried so hard to fix them. I contacted a gallery in Victoria and I was like, what do you know about restoration? Like, it was water damage and mold that ate away at my paintings. And they were like, “you can't really come back from that. Like you can't, there's not a whole lot you can do, maybe you can trim them down and like, restretch them?” And I was like, okay, I'm just going to have to say goodbye to this entire chapter of my life. So it just kind of like everything ended abruptly. And then I had to sit down with myself and be like, K, what am I going to do? Like, how am I going to come back from this? Do I just have to write off my practice? Like this is the end of the world?

Georgia: This is your John Baldassari moment!! 

Cassia: Right? Yeah. I'm like, K like get rid of everything. We're going to start fresh and. This probably isn't like the best form of inspiration, but I was totally being fuelled by like … spite and anger. I was like, I'm going to have to come back from this. And so I've put together a bunch of paintings that were just like, made while I was like working in like a couple of different studios. Like I was floating between studios and I was making all this work that was very emotionally charged. I was like, okay, I'm going to put it somewhere. I'm going to apply. I'm just going to do it. Like, someone's got to see this. And then my proposal got accepted and all the work that was kind of fuelled by all of this history, it’s just like now on display. And it just feels, yeah, it feels really surreal. 

Shae: That is amazing. Like, honestly, I can't even imagine how that would have felt because, I don't know, there's something as physical and time-consuming as a painting, like…. how many were there in that basement? 

Cassia: Um, so there was two large scale, four foot canvases, one, three by three canvas and then three, like plywood, uh, sculptural pieces I was working on. So it was five weeks in total. They were large. 

Shae: Yeah, no, totally. Like it sounds like you've really learned from that experience and not in a way that, you know, was particularly beneficial, but it's more one of those things that … the fact that you didn't give off is like testimony to like how strong you are, not just as an artist, but as an actual person … like you said, it's proper grief.

I can imagine it being like… actually this is so much time and like money. And pretty much your entire like future, you know? So I think that that's like such a horrible thing to have to go through. 

Georgia: I wanted to ask you… Um, so you created this new body of work, like out of spite, and there was anger and it was this really charged energy. Um, how do you feel now that it's all on the walls, like installation is done, it's there. What does that feel like to you now? Is that like a cathartic, like sigh out? Or like, how do you feel?

Cassia: It's well, I can tell you that, like opening night, in such a daze at having so many people seeing this, and asking questions about the work, um, like people were like, what does this one mean? Or like, you know, can you talk about this one? And I was like, I feel like I'm in like a group therapy session. Right? Like it was just like, yeah, like cathartic and I don't know, I felt like so much weight has been lifted.

Um, but it wasn't happy. And it wasn't sad either, but it was, it was just like a little bit numb feeling. I feel like I still need to process it a bit. I'm sure once the show is done, I'm going to have a chance to actually like sit with these emotions and kind of sort them out. But right now it just feels like, you know, like I've got my heart on my sleeve and it's up for critique.

Um, so yeah, it's, it's definitely very confusing, but I’m welcoming that feeling and like welcoming the confusion. 

Georgia: Oh, that's so good. That's so good. I feel like that's something like with art is like, you're putting so much of yourself into it and like, you're just so intertwined with it. And then all of a sudden… oh wait, here's another question for you actually on this note … like the majority of the paintings that you've made, you've already put on social media, so they've already been.

Like out there for the world to see, but like, how was that different from having them in real life and having people see them in real life and react to them in real life? How did you find the difference between like putting them into the world, but in two different ways? 

Cassia: Yeah. Um, it's definitely been like a process for me to figure out how to, how to put my work out into the world. Not being able to share it in person. For the year that I was developing these paintings, I would spend so much time like documenting and like putting like, uh, I probably spend about a month of work on one piece. Right. Um, and then I would share it online and like, you know, we'd get a couple likes and a couple of comments being like “nice job!” And then it's over. And then the next post comes. And it's just… it was so quick that I feel like people didn't … as supportive as they were, they didn't really get a chance to sit with it. And they only really saw, like the painting looks the same in real life and it, it does on my phone. But the fact that you don't have a chance to look at the work and to look at the detail and to actually just like, sit with it and like force yourself to sit with like a piece of art work. It changes the entire interaction. And not to say that there's no value in that because I do like it when people can see that I'm working and I can like prove that I'm still an artist somehow, but, yeah, like people came and they were like, oh, and the size, like, people didn't realize how big everything was!!!

Shae: Yeah I guess it really puts it into perspective, like on like the, having the context of like, this is a human being and this is the size of the work like that I think is actually quite… it's just really interesting, isn't it? Do you think people appreciate the work more? If they're to stand in front of it and be like, wow!! Like, what do you think that actually has like an impact? Bc then you also have slightly smaller works. So I would imagine you have to peer, at more, like, what do you think the relationship between like the viewer on the scale of the work is? 

Cassia: The reason that I, I love to work with such large, like, I think four feet is probably the biggest that has gone. Um, the reason I like to work in this scale is because it's so relative, to the human body. Like the figures in the paintings are about roughly the same size as me. Um, so that kind of like intimacy, we can't really get when it's like so tiny on your phone. And I feel like people have a chance to like make eye contact with the work. Or if it is a little bit smaller than they have to get really up close to it. That presence kind of takes up a different space. Um, and something that I also like completely forgotten about, like going through COVID and not going to any galleries in person is like the ritual that surrounds it.

Like. I had told people when they were coming to the opening, can you wear something floral, like wear something that's flowery or green. And, and people turned up wearing flowers and someone brought me a flower and it was just like… that whole process of like being in a space and like getting ready to go and look at art and to go and talk about it. It's like an entirely different reaction to the work. Like you're making it an event. 

Shae: Yeah, definitely. I think Georgia and I were talking the other day, about how done we are with, well, maybe I think it was actually just me. I was saying, I don't ever want to go to another fucking virtual exhibition ever again.

Like, I feel like a lot of people have this, like have maybe share the same feelings, but then also there's still people being like, ~this is the new gallery space~. I'm like, honestly, if I have to wait for a work of art to load ever again, I'm going to actually die. 

Obviously it was really helpful and it was like a whole, um, it was a whole kind of like uprooting of the art industry was to be like, ~fuck you galleries!!!~We don't need you. Let's change over to the digital space because we didn't have a choice, but also now, restrictions are easing and stuff. Like, there is no excuse for like, fucking watermarked exhibitions, like honest to God. 

Cassia: Sorry, watermarked exhibitions would be a really good name for an exhibition. 

Shae: So what do you think the role of the gallery, with COVID in mind? Like what do you think the role of the gallery is now? Like in a almost post COVID world? 

Cassia: It's so funny… It's not just galleries too. I'm sorry. I'm thinking a little bit off topic. I had a class last summer, like it was the last class I had taken before I graduated and it was completely online.

It was completely virtual and all the work that we were showing in our critique we had to do over Zoom. And the first work that I put in was a painting I'd made and it was just like a small painting. And I had done it like on the floor of my apartment. It was not my best work. Obviously, I was like pretty pissed off while I was making it.

Like, I can't believe I would get to put this on Zoom and that's it. That's the only thing that these people get to see. And I was sharing it and everyone was like, oh, like the lighting seems weird. And like, I don't know. Like, I don't like how it looks on your carpet. I'm like, oh, like, obviously it's not meant to be seen on like carpet, like, 

Shae: omg.

Cassia: Then I started working more digitally and people are like, “keep going with this, keep harnessing this element of your work”. And I was like, it just feels to me, it feels like really insincere, to like my practice as a whole, I just feel like I'm not doing it any justice by having people actually come and look at it, you know? The gallery I was working with at the fifty fifty, which is where my show was being held. She was just like so wonderful and open, when I was saying how important it is for people to come and see this. I was like, my family's coming in from out of town, am I allowed to bring them in?

After the gallery hours are over, can I come in after? And she was like, of course!! This is the first time people have seen your work in person in over a year and a half, of course let them in! Let as many people in, as you want, obviously with restrictions being kept in mind, we can only have about 12 people in the gallery at once. But, um, it was just like her support throughout this has been, so refreshing, it just feels like she's taking my concerns seriously.

Shae: Yeah, definitely. Bc it's so important. Like, especially if you feel inclined to make work that is large scale, and obviously physical, like that's just, if that's what your practice is, obviously there's an element of adaptation that you would have needed to do like towards… well maybe no, you guys didn't have to carry on with … so for me during lockdown, like at the start… we hadn't made any work in our fourth year because we write our dissertation in the first semester. And then obviously like lockdown came with the start of second semester. So we literally had to just like continue our practices at home. So it's like, there is a level of adaptation that needs to happen, but then if you can only take that so far if your practice actually translates, which like… it's a massive forfeit to be like, well, fuck it. I'm a painter, but now I have to like, make work on Procreate? Are you joking? Do you know what I mean? So like that I can imagine that jump, like would have been…, especially if people are critiquing your work being like the carpet, like doesn't actually match like the color palette, like fuck off. Are you joking? 

Cassia: Yeah. Yeah. Like I think there is like a lot of value in trying new mediums, obviously. But, I was like in a point where I was like, ok, this was supposed to be the focal point of my last year. Like, this is what I wanted to do. Um, I had been studying oil painting, for like the past year and I wanted to show it off. And all of a sudden. Have you heard of Blender? Like we should try that. 

Georgia: So I feel like anytime someone has an exhibition, obviously everything… or hopefully everything is intentional. But I feel like a lot of the time, like artists spend so much time thinking about, um, like what colour they use, and what they’re titling their work and what the work means.

And even like the title of the show, like you're thinking about all these things, and then nobody asks you any of these questions, you know? And I just feel like I want to know everything. And so I'm like, I'm wondering if there's like any little like tidbits or insights you can tell us! Tell us some secrets about your show, about your paintings.

If like you were thinking about a certain song or something, or like there's like some certain research you were looking at. So, I mean, I want to start by asking you about the title of the show, but then if you think of any other little secrets you can tell us about your paintings. I would love to hear them.

Cassia: Yeah. Um, so I think when I was saying that a lot of my paintings were charged by spite and by anger, and by like this forceful confrontation with the idea of los… I have also been dealing with like a lot of, um, like personal loss, in my family. And I had come into the idea of thinking about death and thinking about sickness, especially with COVID.

I've had to do a lot of like self reflection on like my inner philosophy regarding death. And I think… have you guys ever heard of the term pushing daisies before? No. Like to push daisies, it's kind of like an older metaphor, but essentially it refers to … when somebody is buried, a lot of the times the earth on top of the mound of dirt, will like sprout flowers and daisies will grow more often than not because they flourish with that much richness in the earth.

And I had kind of come into contact with this when I had like a family member pass away many years ago. And I just was like, so shocked by like how beautiful, the saying was and the fact that loss and losing someone can result in something so beautiful and so powerful. So it's just kind of like a translation of that, to kind of feed into nurture, from death to eat and to feed the flower from.

So since a lot of these works were dealing with loss in kind of like an emotional kind of growth. It was also kind of like referential to the body and like how you can grow from that. So a lot of these works have an element of life to them. I was giving people their homework assignments when they were coming into the show, like trying to find the element of life in each work. So in one, for example, there's a figure who's holding a tomato. This is one of my favourites. I love the tomato girl. Um, and she's holding in the other hand, a huge knife. And it's just kind of like a moment of pause before she's cutting into it. And there's also another painting where the figure is cutting off all of her hair. So it's just the shedding, and the growth that comes from it. And if you look closely into each and every work, there is just like this element of something so precious and valuable, that you don't think twice about.

That's why I was feeling so like shocked and shaken when people were like, I love the colours. Like, what does this one mean? And I was like, like, what does it mean to you? Like, I'd love to know because the works were made for me. They were made by myself for myself, but I made them to share. 

Shae: I'm so glad, first of all, that you shared that with us, because you just put it so beautifully. And like, I think that it has opened up a new door for me when I look at your work. I’m going to admit, I always spent far too long on Instagram, like zooming in… I don't feel drawn to do that, to most things on Instagram, but I always feel really connected to the figures in your work and particularly like the colour palettes that you use.

And so I think that like having that little like snippet of the concept and the thought process behind it is, so I'm just feel so grateful to know that now. 

I also think that the whole thing about the secrecy of like, or maybe they more of like a shying away from like asking an artist, “Why is the show called that?” I think that there's like a whole… I don’t know if it's like a stigma around that. Like when you have when you go to a show? What is that about? Can we just talk about that for a minute? Like, why is that something that some artists maybe don't want to share… why?

Cassia: Um, it's so funny that you say that I don't have the answer, but I do think that it comes from people being afraid that, you know, the artists will be like, what do you mean why? Like, shouldn't it be obvious? People are too nervous to ask questions because they don't want to seem like they don't know what's going on.

Um, I remember my old roommate, I won’t give out his name because I don't want to embarrass him. But I remember once we were looking at a work of art, and he was just like staring really hard on it for like 30 minutes. He was just like, looking so, so hard at it. And I was like, what'd you see? He was like, well, if you look really closely, it almost looks like there's names been written in the paint. I was like, do you think that the answer will come to you? If you stare at it like an optical illusion. You’re just supposed to ask, it’s so simple. Like really… art in theory is very simple. It's such an open door. Like you can ask questions. 

Shae: I feel like, okay, like, I totally agree with you, but the other side of that is … I know so many people that are like, so cunty about their work and it would, would be that like would be very like, “I thought you followed me on Instagram. Like, you don't know my journey? How do you not know?”

Okay, wait… So let me just pause for a second. Cause I'm definitely being too dramatic here. What I'm trying to say is I've been to a lot of gallery openings and the general vibe is, don't ask. If I go to an institutional gallery opening there is no way in hell I'm approaching the artist, let alone saying, so why did you make this choice? Or, could you talk me through this? I feel like all three of us would definitely be like of course I want to talk about myself. Like, yes, I am here to be asked!! favorite 

Cassia: It’s one of my favourite subjects!!

Shae: Literally, but I think that there is like, there is definitely a defining line between people who welcome that and people that definitely would be horrified at you asking that, do you know what I mean? Maybe it's just an institutional thing.

Georgia: I feel the exact same way. I feel like anytime, like I go into a space, and there is an art gallery opening. Maybe it's just me, but like maybe there's something we associate with being an ~amateur art person~ that it's like, I don't want to ask because I don't want them to think, oh, like it doesn't have to have a meaning or it doesn't have to have a reason, or that you feel you should already know and that you should kind of just figure it out on your own.

Shae: But like, honestly, the majority of the times that I'll read a press release and then I’ll be walking around the gallery, and read it over again. And I still don't know what's going on. Like, I have a degree in this and I have no idea. But maybe if the artist was there, I'd be like, okay, talk me through it.

Georgia: With like press releases, it's like cut the jargon. Like half the time it's so jargony that you're just like, you're saying so much and yet not saying anything.

Shae: Oh my God. A hundred percent. Literally. I swear to God, the majority of press releases I read, I do not understand.

Cassia: Yeah. I think like the"ephemeral juxtaposition.” Yeah. I think it definitely depends on the artist. I guess because I've made it a part of my practice to keep art accessible and keep it pretty like lowbrow and open-minded that I forget sometimes that there are people who are like, if you don't understand this, like hyper-specific reference to an art movement from 30 years ago, then get out of my sight.

Um, so I don't know. I think it definitely is an institutional thing. Like I'm lucky that the gallery that I'm at, they keep a pretty open door, they’re pretty accessible. They've like posted the exhibition up on like all of their platforms. Like they do keep it like pretty open. I think that's just so important.

Shae: Yeah totally!!! Because otherwise, especially for you if accessibility is important in your practice, you would want that to be reflected in external people writing about your work. Yeah, I think that's just, I just think it's really interesting.

Like I'm just thinking about, I've not been to a gallery openings, like a exhibition opening since COVID restrictions eased, but I'm kind of like dreading it a little bit, and also I moved cities as well. So I have pals to go with, but like, not my usual Aberdeen pals. And I think that like, yeah, just walking into like a white cube space actually kind of gives me the fear now not having done it for a while. 

Georgia: Why wait, can you elaborate on that? Why? 

Shae: I don't really know. I don't know. I think just mainly because, like I guess what we were talking about before that, most of the time it is pretty inaccessible 

Cassia: It’s just pretty intimidating.

Shae: Yeah, for sure. And like, I also feel like I'm quite goby on the internet, like going into a real life place. You know, like I’m just a tiny little woman, like !!!

Cassia: Just a widdle woman !! 

lolll

Shae: Um, but yeah, I don't really know. I don't really have a reason for it.

Cassia: Yeah. And I feel like being out of the game for so long too, it’s hard to jump right back in. Like, I definitely wasn't expecting people to actually ask me questions about my work when I went in cause I hadn't actually like verbalised any of my thoughts. Like I have been sitting in my own head for the past year. Like yeah, everything makes sense. Obviously. I am the smartest person I know. Um, and then somebody would ask questions being like, why did you use this colour? And I'd be like, like, I don't know. 

Shae: Do you have any like tips on … how did you actually handle that on the opening night? Like  did you kind of have to rack your brain a bit in the moment? 

Cassia: Going through art school and going through critiques, I have definitely had to learn how to talk about art, just in like a broad sense. And I normally kind of go through like a few different points of like immediate reference.

So like someone asks about a work and I talked about the colour. I talk about the imagery and then I talk about size and how it's hung and how it looks in the gallery. Those three points really. If I think about them immediately, I can talk about it right away. Um, I am like a pretty nervous person. So like someone says, what does this mean? And I'm like, well, what do you see? You see two figures and they're holding each other, you see a lot of bright colours, but you also see sadness. Like what can we, what can we infer from that? And so it just kind of like just the easiest questions and it becomes a back and forth. And I think that way, it helps the other person kind of get the work.

It becomes a little bit more about them as well. And not just me being like, well it's because this and this, and this it's like, what do you think about the colour? Like, why do you think they're holding each other like this? So it just kind of like became a conversation more than like me giving a presentation. If that makes sense. 

Shae: Do you think that that actually helps people? Is that like a two way thing that it helps other people to like, not only like, look at your work, but the work in general, but then also like helps you to strengthen your communication skills about like the internal… like the making of the work?

Cassia: Yeah, definitely. I think because like the works are so personal to me, it became pretty difficult to go into like a really deep discussion about it without any precursor to the other person. Like I was approached by a group of three people and they were like, we love this work. Like tell us about it.

And I'm like, okay, well, if I dive right in, I'll start crying. And I don't want to just like emotionally bombard you. So let's hold each other's hands and we'll go into it together. And then that way I think it, it makes it easier for me to know that somebody else understands and then it can also make it so the other person… maybe they relate and now they know that there's somebody else who is going through something similar. So it becomes and that's yeah. I think that's very community based.

Georgia: Yeah, Shae and I were just sort of to say the exact same thing. We both think that's so valuable to the viewer, instead of just saying like, this is what I was thinking when I made it, and then it just ends there and they're like, okay, I have my meaning, now I can move on to the next thing. But instead, engaging them more and making them more of like an active viewer. I think that's like so valuable. 

Cassia: Yeah. Um, when I was doing my residency in Iceland, I met this woman, her name was Karen. She was great. She was the residency head and she was a performance artist and she didn't work with anything physical.

She was actually like, I think she had her roots, her background was in dance, like she was a dancer and went into the form of art and I valued everything she said, like, it was like gold coming out of her mouth. I fell in love with her. It was amazing. She was so wonderful. And I was talking about like my work and how I want people to interact with it.

And she was like, so it's a performance. And I said, no, it's a painting. And she was like, but you're wanting a reaction. And you're wanting people to have like an intimate response with your work… that is performance in itself. And we kind of talked about it and just like the act of going and looking at a work of art and standing in front of it and having an emotional response, that is also part of the work.

And I take that into all of the paintings that I do. Like, what is the first thing people are going to see when they stand in front of one of my works: they’re going to be bombarded by colour, and then they're going to think about it a little bit longer and maybe they'll be confused, but that's okay. So if you just take all of those elements, like not just what's on the wall, but also what's happening in between the viewer and the work like that.

Shae: I think that's so interesting - like, is that what you mean by, at the start of the episode, you mentioned that you would consider yourself to not necessarily just be a painter. Is that what you mean?

Cassia: Yeah. Um, It's been kind of a wild ride and it's something that I'm going to probably explore more that I'm not working on. This exhibition is more so of the space in itself. And how can you turn a space into like a work of art without just putting something on the wall and being that's it it's done? Like how can you kind of like create an environment 

Shae: So we’re talking about installations then? Yeah. That's so fun. 

Cassia: It's something that I I'm still figuring it out, but I would love to just dive into. Different mediums. And I don't know what they are yet. Maybe it's going to be something like soft sculptures or maybe it'll be like interior design.

Shae: Omg I would love, sorry. I’m just imagining like a soft sculpture by you omg. Like, it's going to be so amazing. Um, so that actually leads me onto another question. What is next for you? 

Cassia: Yeah, what a good question. Cause I don't really know yet.

I feel like the past year I've just been enraged and fuelled and ready to make work. And every month I'd be working on something new and I'd be thinking about it constantly. And it was exhausting, like making work constantly so tiring. Um, but now that my, like my goal has been. And I don't need to be producing art all the time.

I just want to explore, like, there's just so much that I still don't know. And there's so much that I want to play with. So I think, I don't know, I might take up sewing. I might get into clay. Like I'm so excited. Like I just want to dip my toes into everything.

Shae: And you literally may as well!!! I think that's like the most exciting thing about being an artist is that you can just like, you can just switch it up whenever you like, you're allowed to do that! And you particularly, your practice is so versatile. You have such a solid base. You have such a solid foundation to adapt your style to literally anything.

So I think that that's just so amazing. I'm so excited to see what is next for you. I actually, sorry… not to ask another question, but what is your inspiration? Can you tell us like about what inspires you the most?

Cassia: This is something that I tend to come back to a lot is like, nostalgia. I know that's like one of the like art buzzwords. Um, but when I make a work of art, I'm like, this reminds me of like a toy I used to play with when I was a kid. And then that feeling is just like, it cuts me so deep.

And then I think about just the pure joy and excitement that I used to experience all the time as a child. And I want to be able to translate that into what I'm making now. So something that comes up a lot is like the kind of like cartoonish elements that come through in the world of my style.

Um, and like patterns and the colours. Like it's all very childlike. And I think it's just because I'm so inspired by pure, genuine emotional responses to things that I used to experience when I was a kid.

Shae: Yeah!! I absolutely fucking hate the word nostalgia. I wish they would come up with another word because … so that's kind of something that I'm looking into right now, is like childhood toys and play and things like that.

And I purposefully don't want that word in my artist statement, but it is just the exact word that I'm looking for. So I think between you and I Cassia, we are going to come up with a new word! 

Cassia: Yeah!!! 

Shae: Georgia, is there anything that you want to ask or talk about? Cause I think we should probably wrap up pretty soon. 

Georgia: Yeah I'm mindful of the time. This is definitely like I guess maybe the one downside of Zencaster is like, now we can just talk forever. So like I do want to be mindful of our guests and our listeners and everything.

So I think, um, we will wrap it up, but Cassia, thank you so, so much for your time today and for giving us some more insight into your practice. I feel like I talk to you like constantly, and I feel like I've learned so much today. So thank you so so much! And you continue to just be like an absolute inspiration in every sense of the way word to Shae and I, so thank you so much for always being a good resource to Jiggle n Juice’s support documents!

Shae: Thank you so much for joining us today! Is there anything you want to plug? Where can we find you?

Cassia: So, all of my socials are under the same handle just @cassiapowell and cassiapowell.com. And my show “to eat the flower from the root” will be running from November 4th to 28th, if you're in Victoria, at the fifty fifty arts collective! I come in once a week, probably on Saturday. So if you want to come and chat, I'm happy to discuss that more! Um, yeah. Amazing! It’s been so fun.  

Shae: I’m so glad. Thank you so much!!

So thank you so much for listening, watching, or reading! This has been in conversation with Cassia Powell and please check out their work. It is honestly amazing. You will not regret it. We'll see you next time for another episode of In Conversation With!!!