Celebrating our Staff Artists

Our staff are artists! We want to support artists in everything we do at Cass Art, and one of the ways we do this is fill our stores with artists. While our doors may temporarily be closed we want to bring our Staff Artists to your screens!

First: Alessandra Rigillo, Second and Third: Jurga Vilimaite 

Alessandra Grillo @alessandrarigillo – Assistant Manager at our Manchester branch

Title: ‘Spring’

Materials: Sennelier oil pastels, System 3 acrylic on Khadi paper.

‘I think as an artist every small decisions we make is part of our style, our signature, from the surface we choose, the materials we paint with, the size of the canvas and so on. It’s not just the subject of our artwork that say something about us. That is why I used gold for the background of my works as a memory of the churches in my own city; Rome. The items I portrayed are part of objects, mementos I collect during my travels and that now decorate my house. I like to surround myself with beautiful and quirky objects. ‘– Allesandra Grillo

Jurga Vilimaite @jurgasanz - Store Manager of our Kensington branch

Title: ‘Al Azhar Minarets’

Materials: Daniel Smith Watercolour on A3 Khadi paper

‘I paint Mosques and Minarets from her trips to Egypt and Turkey. This particular piece is of the Minarets of Al Azhar mosque/ university in Cairo, which is the oldest University in the world and still running.’ – Jurga Vilimaite

Title: “My bow to the Great Hokusai”

Materials: Japanese ink on rice paper

‘The idea came after me doing a 100 piece puzzle of a “great wave” by Hokusai. I have interpreted it in my own style of minimal sumi-e (japanese ink painting), Creating it in 2brushstrokes- one brush stroke for the wave and another one for the mount Fuji.’ – Jurga Vilimaite

First: Michaela Davis, Second and Third: Alice Donadu

Michaela Davis @kaydavisartist – Sales Assistant at our Charing Cross branch

Title: ‘Unitiled’

Materials: Winsor and Newton gouache, Liquitex acrylic gouache, Derwent graphic pencils on Bockingford watercolour paper 

Alice Donadu @ladynotsart - Assistant manager our Westfield Stratford branch.

Title: ‘Peace Offering:

Materials: Daniel Smith watercolour, Winsor and Newton watercolour, Liquitex inks on Cass Art Cold pressed paper.

‘I painted this the 29th of March at night, I was still recovering from the virus and was low on energy but I felt the need to create something. After 2 weeks of being in bed and totally unable to do anything I started painting leaves as an exercise. 

I always get back to olive tree leaves, maybe it's my Mediterranean heritage and they are part of some of my fondest memories of Italy. The incredibly hot summers spent in the countryside with my family, under the big olive tree in my grandfather's backyard, the olives given by the tree that were not made into oil, put under salt and chilli to roast under the sun. I spent 2 weeks in bed with my family calling me every 2 hours to make sure I didn’t t need to go to a hospital and after all that I just needed something to remind me of home. The gold I dropped on the leaves, it's the sun on my skin and the olive branch is a peace offering.’ – Alice Donadu

Title: "All the stars are shining for us"

Materials: Winsor and Newton watercolour and Winsor and Newton ink on Cass Art cold pressed watercolour paper.

‘This is a piece I made in collaboration with Mamaterjewels for World Health day. It's a piece about hope and good wishes for a better future in this hard time and to remember that we are all made of stardust so also our lost ones are part of us and therefor always with us.’

First and last: Alistair Woods, Second: Rachel Hardaway

No Smoke Without Fire

Alistair Woods

@_alistairwoods

Mixed media on linen.

Rachel Hardaway @racka_222 - Supervisor in our Flagship Islington branch.

Title: Captain Hook

Materials: Pigma Micron pens, QoR watercolour and Posca markers

Alistair Woods @_alistairwoods - Key Holder at our Manchester branch

Title: ‘No Smoke without Fire.’

Materials: Michael Harding oil paint, MTN 94 spray paint, Sharpie marker and Unison pastel on linen.

Feeling Inspired?

 Shop online for everything you'll need. Don't forget to hashtag #cassart on social media to show us your creations. And if you need advice our Staff Artists are still on hand to help via our Customer Care team online.