Originally from North Carolina's Piedmont region, Cassandra studied first at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, and then at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated with a BFA in General Fine Arts and Art History with a Concentration in Printmaking in 2010 and then received her Masters in Teaching Art in 2011. Cassandra currently lives in Durham, NC.
ABOUT
I see art as a language, a sort of vocabulary, in which we can dissect and analyze our world. Mental and social development in children is often understood and solidified through visuals. Every experience, from drawing a line on the wall to moving blocks on the floor, teach children about the potential to create and the complexities of relationship dynamics. As we get older, advertisements and marketing strategies inundate our experiences and in turn alter our perceptions of the self, the community, the world, and what are considered acceptable desires and needs. By learning the visual strategies that are being used to alter our perceptions, we can then uncover the facade from the reality and begin the arduous journey of making our own conclusions about ourselves, our culture, and our world.
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I have always used art as a tool to confront and clarify my life experiences through both intentional dissection and accidental discovery through a subconscious unveiling. The making itself is a sort of meditation that cleans and sorts the good, the bad, and the ambiguous into manageable chunks to digest.
Identity, dependencies, vulnerabilities, relationships, personal triumphs, weaknesses, and spirituality all drive my journey to question, challenge, and reveal new truths about myself. The images and objects that result function as silent witnesses to those explorations and archive the achievements, fallbacks, stagnations, silent fears, and remaining hope I have discovered along the way.