London, UK
Collection: NICOLA TASSIE
ARTIST STATEMENT
Nicola Tassie describes herself as a potter but her work incorporates thrown tableware, wall based projections, and large scale sculpture installations. Rather than sitting in opposition to each other these disparate strands coexist in a continuous loop of exchange, evolution and inquiry. Ideas of utility exist as both concept and practice. Her Lighting series consists of lamps as sculptures, and as functioning designs. Surface effects and processes transition seamlessly from a sturdy jug onto a wall-mounted abstract ‘clay canvas’. Domestic ware forms are amalgamated into composite sculptures that are either stacked into tall multi-glazed towers or sit horizontally, echoing landscaped pathways or ‘stone walls’, literally and figuratively elevating everyday objects into totemic form. At the core her practice is a reimagining of the ordinary into the extraordinary. By synthesizing historical references, domestic objects and experimental processes, she asks what it means to work with the ancient medium of ceramics in the 21st century.
photo by: Ollie Tomlinson
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Nicola Tassie initially studied painting at the Central School of Art but took up ceramics soon after completing her BA, establishing a studio in Hoxton in London in the 1980’s. Her works have been exhibited in the UK, Paris, Japan and in the USA where she is represented by Hostler Burrows gallery. Recent exhibitions include ‘Strange Friends’ at Make Hauser & Wirth in London, and Abstract Colour at Marlborough Gallery. She was shortlist for Award 2023 at the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke on Trent and has exhibited at Collect 2023 and 2024 International Art Fair for Craft and Design, with Jagged Art. Recent commissions include Slipper Stone, a site specific work for Maggie’s Cancer Care centre, Edinburgh. She has an on-going collaboration with the designer Margaret Howell, making limited edition tableware and designs for lighting.
She continues to work from her studio in east London.
Awards Award 2023 British Ceramics Biennial Short List.
Recent/Selected Exhibitions
2025 ‘Creatures’, 8Holland Street, London
2024 ‘Nature Imagined’, The Object Space, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
‘At Last it came into Focus’, Warbling Collective, London
Light Sculptures, 8 Holland Street, London
Collect 24 with Jagged Art at Sommerset House, London
2023 ‘Award’ British Ceramics Biannual 2023, Stoke on Trent,
‘Strange Friends’ – Make Hauser & Wirth, London
Hospital Rooms Art auction – Bonhams, London.
Collect 23 with Jagged Art at Sommerset House, London.
Abstract Colour, Marlborough Gallery, London
The London Art Fair 2023 – Cross Lane Projects, London
2022 ‘Grounding’ - Jagged Art, London
‘4’ - Cross Lane Projects, Kendal, Cumbria
2021 Nicola Tassie Ceramics and John McLean Prints – The Fine Arts Society, London
The London Art Fair – London
‘SLIP AND STASIS’ solo exhibition, Standpoint Gallery, London
‘Sweet Dreams’ The Fine Art Society, London
2020 ‘Dirty Hands and Revelations – The Great Oxygenation Event’ RCA at Standpoint Gallery, London
‘Sculptural meets Functional’ – Maud and Mabel Gallery, London
2019 ‘New Artists- Group Exhibition’, Hostler Burrows, New York
The Wells Art Contemporary 2019, Wells Cathedral, Somerset
‘Collecting Craft’, The Holburne Museum, Bath Somerset
Collect 19 at Saatchi Gallery, London
2018 Leveling Traditions, Make Hauser & Wirth, Somerset
‘Perspective’, Petronilla Silver, London
2017 Paris Design week, Margaret Howell, Paris
Tremenheere Sculpture Park, Penzance, Cornwall
Collect 17 at Saatchi Gallery, London
FOG Design and Art Fair, San Francisco, USA
2016 ‘ING Discerning Eye Exhibition’, Mall Galleries, London
‘The Miami Edit’ – Crafts Council at the One Hotel, Miami Beach, Miami, Florida.
‘The White Show’ - Clotworthy House & Antrim Castle Gardens, Antrim, Northern Ireland
Publications
2022 Financial Times, HTSI magazine, Double Act- ‘We speak the same language’ by Victoria Woodcock, May 14th
Corridor 8 – 06.06.22, ‘4 Cross Lane Projects’ Review by Sam Pickett
8 Holland Street – No 13 Nicola Tassie, Stories, Jan 2022
2017 Urban Potters: Makers in the City by Kate Treggiden, published by Ludion
Milk Magazine, Sept/Oct/Nov 2017 issue, text by Julie Boucherat
2016 Imperfect Perfect by Karen McCartney, Sharyn Cairns and Glen Proebstel, published by Murdoch Books
2015 -14.12.15 The Spaces -digital VF publication -DESIGN -Tactile design: why we like things a little rough around the edges by
Kate Treggiden
2015 Country Living Modern Rustic issue 4, text by Caroline Atkins
2015 Makers of East London, published by Hoxton Mini Press
2006/8/12 The Ceramics Book - an A-Z guide to 300 ceramic artists, published by Ceramic Review Publishing Ltd
2005 Points of View, by Geoffrey Quilley, Standpoint, London / Ceramics: Art and Perception International, issue60
1999 Painted Ceramics; colour and imagery on clay, by Brenda Pegrum, published by Crowood Press
1992 Freeing the Spirit, Crafts Magazine, May/June
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