Written by Jonathan Luines
Anna Cassell is a multi-media artist from Greenville, South Carolina. Her art is a journey of self-exploration and a way for her to process life as she journeys through it. My interview with her revealed a deeply personal motivation for making art and therefore an authentic disregard for her “success” in the art world (shows, sales) and a greater passion for how she can use her art to better understand herself.
The path to making
Because Anna is the daughter of two phenomenal metal artists, I was curious as to whether she ever felt forced into art or if creating art was more of a conscious personal choice. Anna’s response was interesting because though she appreciates the art-supportive environment she was raised in, especially seeing other students her age struggling to get support from parents that did not understand the desire to create, she never felt pressured to become an artist. She makes art because it is a powerful tool for her own self-understanding, not to live up to a familial expectation. Though her parents work with metals, she dislikes working with metals and prefers fibers and ceramics - softer mediums that she feels she can leave more of an impression on. Metals force you to work with them, and she often feels she butts heads with the medium. Also, fibers allow her to dive deeper into the history, culture, stereotypes, and truths of the south that she likes to explore in her work. With South Carolina, and Greenville especially, having such a deep textile history, she feels connected to the history of where she’s from working with fibers and from that connection can challenge stereotypes of the south and cultural customs expected of herself and other women in southern culture.
“A lot of my work is more about the process than the finished piece”
For Anna, the process of making art is most important. She says “A lot of my work is more about the process than the finished piece … It’s the act of me actively dedicating a place, a space, a mental state to the work.” Reflecting on her 2026 self portrait, featuring images from her life printed onto sausage casing, she recalls that “The work itself is great but the stitching it together is what was important for me”. This is because stitching together all these pieces of important memorabilia from her life gave her time and a process to reflect on everything that had brought her to that moment.
Visions of the Future
I asked Anna where she sees herself in the next five years. In addition to her current mediums, she can see herself branching out in the future. Recently, she has found photography an important medium. While she has not had a dedicated space to create art this summer, she always has a camera with her. She also wants to lean into more photography and installation works. Her greatest desire, though, is to be able to make her own skin like biomaterial. She wants to focus on the sustainability and impermanence of her art, noting that all biomaterial will eventually break down. In short, Anna’s vision is simple: