Download PDF – – Profile from the 2023 Greater Cape Ann Guide
Many of us have explored ceramics, the feeling of clay in our hands, the relationship between strength and delicacy as we engage the clay, coaxing from it a symbol of something we long to express. It is much harder an art practice than it looks. Even more so when the medium is porcelain. Anna Kasabian sculpts porcelain, though sculpts is not quite right. While the process may appear strictly physical, that would not describe Kasabian’s relationship with porcelain. Kasabian choreographs; her fingers dance with clay and the results are astonishing and ethereal. Her clay is a dancer, awaiting instruction. The final piece, a pas de deux between artist and art form.
“From the moment I hand-formed my first little porcelain bud vase, I felt that my life was forever changed.”
Kasabian grew up in Connecticut and first experienced the Cape Ann area while at Endicott College in Beverly, MA. “I just loved it. The geography, the architecture, the ocean, everything.” She transferred to Emerson College in Boston and met her future husband who took her to Singing Beach in Manchester-By-The-Sea which had a magical effect. After marrying and moving to Ipswich, then moving around for several years, Kasabian returned to Cape Ann and ultimately settled in Manchester-By-The-Sea 20 years ago. What drew her full circle? “It isn’t so much one story but more about the instant realization that this is where I belong.”
Kasabian has always been an artist, beginning her career as a writer and book author, primarily in the fields of interior design and architecture. Drawn to ceramics, she first experimented with a pottery wheel. “It was not for me. I felt much more connected to the clay when it was in my hands. It’s an intimacy that’s hard to explain. I like that each ball of clay has its own properties and I often go with it as I sculpt rather than trying to force certain shapes. It becomes a symbiotic give and take…and I love the element of surprise that this brings to a sculpture.”
Kasabian was immediately drawn to porcelain. “From the moment I hand-formed my first little porcelain bud vase, I felt that my life was forever changed. That I could bring it to amazing thinness and, at times, translucency, just took me and I haven’t stopped since.” From her kitchen island and dining room table in Manchester-By-The-Sea, Kasabian’s process unfolds. “First I develop a concept and/or a shape and decide on the size. I create wall and tabletop sculptures and rarely depart from two themes: flowers and sea waves. Some work approaches realism and some leans more toward abstract impressionism.” The process is also minimal: “My favorite tools are my fingers on water.”
Kasabian immerses herself into music while working—“I love listening to chanting, especially Krishna Das, very soulful. I find that it just lights up my brain. Sometimes I’m in a different mood and it’s the Talking Heads”—and into nature while walking. She studies gardens, the crashing surf and Cape Ann’s glorious skies to invigorate her process. “When I take walks, I often see magnificent clouds forming over Manchester Harbor or on Shore Road in Magnolia. I always have my iPhone to take pictures. One day I was working with this very translucent clay from Australia and began shaping things that could be taken for a wave, but I felt like they were reminding me of the way clouds work so I came up with a series that I detail with 23-karat gold leaf. It reminds me of the sun hitting the clouds…those have been delightful.”
Kasabian’s Petite Nuages series extends outward as if with wings; the clay an intuitive, willing partner in the process. The works seem so delicate, as if they could take flight in a strong wind, and yet they are clay. Strong, remarkably durable. Alive and in perpetual motion. Her sea waves undulate as if still in the ocean; her Emerald Goddess resembles a rose twirling a cape or, perhaps, dancing a tango.
With numerous commissions and awards, nationally and internationally, and acceptance in prestigious juried shows including the 2021 American Women Artists National Juried Exhibit, Kasabian creates from a geographical and emotionally happy place. “It’s just a wonderful, wonderful life. I couldn’t ask for more.”
