Cas Holmes is an award winning artist who trained in Fine Art at the University of Creative Arts in Maidstone, followed by studies in textile and paper arts in Japan (funded by the Churchill Fellowship and The Japan Foundation). More recent research in India has led Cas to develop a unique response to the use of found materials and cloth to process techniques and ideas in her work. Her work and projects are reflected in her publications for Batsford including Embroidering the Everyday (2021) and Textile Landscape (2018)
Further training in community arts has seen Cas leading projects, creating installations and working on commissions in the UK and overseas including the Garden Museum, the Embroiderers Guild and the Museum of Art and Design New York. She also teaches internationally as well as at the prestigious West Dean College as well as here at Kent Adult Education.
Cas teaches our Drawing & Painting courses in centre and online, as well as bespoke Textile art courses. Her teaching is centered around exploring skills and developing ideas to help students develop their own individual approach. She says: “I enjoy seeing students gain confidence in their abilities and a recognition that they can learn to develop their skills. The outcomes never cease to surprise me, and I learn equally from how I see the students evolving their work.”
Her Drawing & Painting courses involve learning both the technical and expressive skills required in drawing, and painting such as observation, line, texture, composition, use of colour and tone. Learners will engage in tutor demonstrations while exploring other artists, culture, and will take part in imaginative exercises.
Cas says her biggest inspiration is her students; “You never know how their ideas may develop and in which direction their work may go.” She also says she takes inspiration from her Romany Grandmother and Father’s stories, and way of life that continue to inform her life and work.
Some of her favourite artists who have inspired and influenced her are British Landscape artists: John Piper, John Nash and Graham Sutherland and says: “As well as marginalised women artists and ethnically diverse artists whose work and voices are becoming heard, Louise Bourgeois, Sheila Hicks, Faith Ringgold, Billie Zangewa, Magdalena Abakanowicz.”
When Cas isn’t teaching, she has been involved in leading projects commissioned by The Romani Cultural and Arts Company, which has led to the development of new works: ‘Places, Spaces, Traces as part of Gypsy Maker 4.’ Cas has also led voluntary, online projects during the pandemic. This involved people from all over the world (including students from KAE) to produce work on ‘The Things We Value, and The Things We Miss’ and ‘The Shipping Forecast’ (touring the UK, Antwerp and Northern Ireland) which focuses on the issues surrounding migration and the movement of people.
