Joanna Kessel MA RCA works with glass, concrete and stone. Her work is highly regarded nationally and internationally and frequently included in the international Mosaic Biennale in Ravenna, Italy. In 2019 she mounted her solo show, REVEAL, within Collect at the Saatchi Gallery, London.
In 2010 Kessel spent an extended period in northern Italy studying contemporary mosaics, supported by a Creative Scotland award – a pivotal a moment in the development of her studio practice. It was at this point that she first came across the work of Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa and started to use concrete within her work.
Kessel received the Inches Carr Creative Development Award 2022 to research materials and techniques associated with 19th century Italian filato micro-mosaics collected as souvenirs by travellers on the Grand Tour of Italy.
Research focused on flamework, pulling and shaping glass filati (threads) and casting in glass and concrete. She studied with specialists in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Italy. A subsequent period of studio development enabled her to experiment freely, to test and try out ideas, to refine technique and to hone concept.
During this period her gaze shifted from the urban to the natural environment we inhabit. It involved being present, noticing nuance and detail, yet being free to consider, to interpret and to imagine. Like John Muir:
‘I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.’
John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir.
In her new series of glass and concrete wall sculptures, Field of Vision, organic shapes form clusters that appear to start to disperse and to flow across the wall. Templates provide the layout but the sculptures can be arranged and rearranged in dialogue with the space. Colour palettes are derived from nature, suggestive of lichens and cellular worlds, meticulously observed. The core and wrap of the pulled glass filati are cut and cast within a pigmented, concrete form.
|
Education |
||
|
1985-87 |
- |
Royal College of Art. M.A - Tapestry, Faculty of Fine Art |
|
1984-85 |
- |
Edinburgh College of Art. Post-Graduate Diploma - Ceramics |
|
1981-84 |
- |
Edinburgh College of Art. B.A. Hons - Ceramics and Tapestry |
|
|
||
|
Solo and two-person Exhibitions |
||
|
2024 |
- |
Field of Vision. Inches Carr Creative Development Award 2022 showcase. VAS Cenetenary exhibition. RSA Galleries, Edinburgh |
|
2023 |
- |
Memento. An exhibition of Research. The exhibition focused on the research undertaken during the VAS: Inches Carr Creative Development Award 2022. It included two new pieces made for the gallery and an ‘in conversation’ talk with tapestry artist Sara Brennan. mote, Edinburgh. (See Research below). |
|
2019 |
- |
Reveal, Collect Open, Saatchi Gallery, London. Supported by Creative Scotland, Orsoni Venezia 1888, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop |
|
|
- |
Aurum | Gold. Le Roi Fou, Edinburgh |
|
2018 |
- |
Contemporary Mosaic: Joanna Kessel & Dugald MacInnes. Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh |
|
2011 |
- |
Andamento: Un Viaggio in Italia. Italian Cultural Institute, Edinburgh |
|
|
||
|
Group Exhibitions |
||
|
2024 |
- |
DEBUT :: inaugural open. &Gallery, Edinburgh |
|
|
- |
Tatha Gallery, Newport on Tay, Fife |
|
2022/19/17/15/13 |
- |
Ravenna Mosaico, International Mosaic Biennale, Ravenna, Italy |
|
2020/19/18 |
- |
Royal Scottish Academy Annual, RSA Galleries, The Mound, Edinburgh |
|
2019/18 |
- |
VAS / SSA Open. RSA Galleries, The Mound, Edinburgh |
|
2018 |
|
Visual Arts Scotland Open, RSA Galleries, Edinburgh |
|
2017 |
- |
First – The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh |
|
2016 |
- |
Scottish Craft and Design Pavilion at London Design Fair with Craft Scotland |
|
|
- |
Custom: Made – 12 Scottish designers. Supported by Craft Scotland and GRAS, Custom Lane, Edinburgh |
|
|
- |
Associazione Internazionale Mosaicisti Contemporanei (AIMC), Palazzo Tadea, Spilimbergo, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy |
|
2014 |
- |
Mosaic Biennale, Chartres, France |
|
|
||
|
Awards |
||
|
2022 |
- |
Inches Carr Creative Development Award 2022. Administered by Visual Arts Scotland. |
|
2019 |
- |
Creative Scotland – Professional Development Award. To support the solo show Reveal at Collect Open. |
|
2018 |
- |
The Scottish Gallery award – Visual Arts Scotland and the Society of Scottish Artists exhibition Open 2018. |
|
2010 |
- |
Scottish Arts Council Creative Development Award: specialist mosaic study in northern Italy including at the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli. |
|
2009 |
- |
Craft Maker Awards: Edinburgh |
|
|
||
|
Teaching |
||
|
2024 - 08 |
- |
I teach contemporary mosaic courses from my studio and collaborate with others to deliver specialist mosaic workshops. I co-tutor Elements of Place – Formed by Fire, focusing on flamework and filato micro-mosaic, with glass artist Andrea Spencer in Northern Ireland. Between 2017-19 I co-tutored the Mosaic & Tapestry course in Italy with Laura Magliveras. |
|
|
||
|
Writing |
||
|
2023/22 |
- |
I recently become a guest contributor to Mosaic & Glass magazaine. I have written about the work of glass artist Andrea Spencer (issue 3) and mosaic artist Duglad MacInnes (issue 6). |
|
|
||
|
Public Speaking |
||
|
2023 -16 |
- |
I frequently speak about my work and contemporary mosaic. This includes; A Public Art Puzzle: A symposium on Sir Eduardo Paolozzi's Tottenham Court Road Mosaic Arches - University of Edinburgh; Associazione Internazionale Mosaicisti Contemporanei Congresso, Spilimbergo, Italy; British Association for Modern Mosaic (BAMM) Forums and in 2016 I organised BAMM Forum: Edinburgh, hosted by Edinburgh College of Art / University of Edinburgh. |
|
|
||
|
Research & Training |
||
|
2022 |
- |
The Inches Carr Creative Development Award 2022 supported research into the materials, techniques and processes involved in creating traditional filato micro-mosaics and how these could be translated into a contemporary context.
The award focus was on explorative research free from the constraints of creating new work. Research was wide ranging and comprised observing nature through drawing, macro photography, collecting soil samples and natural colour palettes; experimentation with a range of glass materials to pull filati (madre tinte, smalti, Bullseye, Effetre) using a crucible and torch; experimentation with a range of materials to cast bespoke vessels, Bullseye glass, concrete, brass and an exploration of slow-cure adhesives from traditional Stucco Romano to Milliput and integrated wall fittings.
The Mentor role was divided between two contemporary artists, Andrea Spencer and Andrea Walsh, each providing hands-on skill training, advice and expertise relevant to their specialism. Flamework to colour, shape and hand pull glass filati (threads) and mould-making / casting to form bespoke vessels to contain and support the filato micro-mosaics.
In addition I attended a speciaist Micro-mosaic Workshop at Ravenna Art School, Italy, a Jewellery Wax Carving workshop at CSSJ and visited the V&A’s Gilbert Collection of C18/C19 micro-mosaics, collected as souvenirs by travellers on the Grand Tour of Italy.
The research produced a vast body of work and led to the exhibition Memento at mote, Edinburgh in February 2023. The show comprised a table of research, photographs and drawings and two new pieces; Dispersal (filato micro-mosaic and cast concrete) and Evaporation (pigment and cast concrete). These pieces were created with the gallery in mind and to indicate the direction new work would take. |
|
|
||
|
Publications |
||
|
2022 |
- |
Mosaic & Glass magazine (issue 2). The Meditative Mosaicist Abstracting a Traditional Craft by Rebecca Ann Hughes. |
|
2021 |
- |
Mosaique. Pyramyd Editions. 80 International Contemporary Mosaicists. |
|
2020 |
- |
Mosaique Magazine. Issue 20. Un Viaggio, a creative journey in Scotland and Italy. |
|
2018 |
- |
Contemporary Mosaic - Associazione Internazionale Mosaicisti Contemporanei (AIMC), Girasol Press, Ravenna, Italy |
|
|
||
|
Collections |
||
|
Work is held in private collections in the UK, Europe and the USA |
||