20 August 2009
A-Z A Hand Book
29 Aug – 18 Oct 2009
A smashed saucer or broken cup is met enthusiastically by the Stroud-based artist Cleo
Mussi. She seizes – magpie-like – upon fragmented bits and pieces to use in her unique
mosaics.
A selection of Cleo’s inventive work is on show at Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum in this
exhibition which focuses on her mosaic hands, made from slices of shattered pots and
plates, and grouped together into a narrative alphabet. Visitors will delight in the imaginative
ways in which Mussi has combined disparate pottery parts, some with text some with bright
patterns, to produce something strikingly new.
Cleo use of found objects and interest in recycling produces work which has a clean, crisp
palette, using white ceramic as a base to build colour and pattern around. Blood-red hearts,
slithers of sunshine yellow and navy stars, glow against the purity of the white ceramic and
the grey grout outline.
Patterns are not just selected for their beauty; many are symbolic and meaningful to the
piece as a whole. For example, F is for Flying, with its hands paired like wings, incorporates
a piece of pottery with an image of birds; R is for Reflexology combines portions of 1960s
and '70s psychedelic pottery with a chunk showing an image of blissful cherubs.
There are similarities between the imagery Mussi creates and that found on playing or tarot
cards. The predominance of white, together with the use of bold colours and a dark outline
also contributes to the aesthetic. Mussi is influenced by folk art and ephemera and lists
among her influences: the Indian outsider artist, Nek Chand, Mexican Day of the Dead
papier mâché, Victorian postcards, Tiger rugs of Tibet and 16th-century British portraiture.
Editor’s Note
Cleo Mussi trained at Chelsea School of Art and at Goldsmiths College as a textile artist. She has
exhibited widely, in Gloucestershire at Stroud Museum, Brewery Arts, Cirencester, and elsewhere in
the UK, such as the Festival Hall, London and the Craft Centre Studio, London. Mussi has also
undertaken many commissions including Cheltenham Hospital, the John Lewis Partnership in
Birmingham, Winchcombe Primary School, Cirencester Hospital and Carlton Television, London. Cleo
Mussi lives and works in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
For further details please contact Sophia Wilson, Exhibitions & Education Manager, or Anna
Stanway, Marketing & Information Officer, Tel: 01242-237431.
Opening times:
Daily 10.00-5.00 (April – October) 10.00-4.00 (November – March) ▪ First Thursday of each month
open from 11.00am ▪ Third Thursday of each month open until 8.00pm ▪ Closed Bank Holidays ▪ Free
admission