Cassy Oliphant West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Cassy Oliphant is a painter, illustrator and community artist. Folk tales, nature, her love of travel and bringing people together are her main influences. Community and sharing stories has roots in much of her work. She has over 10 years experience working within community settings, from women's refuges to working with learning disabilities.
I’ve worked as an established community artist for nearly 20 years, but have been refocusing and redeveloping more of my own art practice in the last 7 years. I’m primarily a painter though I also work with textiles.
My main focus has been using Chinese and European folklore to understand my own mixed heritage, with an interest in how stories mutate as they migrate, and what this has meant for my family as they have settled in different places around the world. I’ve had a particular focus on where Chinese and European folk stories overlap and where they differ, in the same way that cultural identity can merge or dislocate.
I've been the recipient of both the Curatorspace bursary, and Arts Council funding to Develop Your Creative Practice
Artwork
Glisk, Watercolour on Paper, 2025, £1100
Islands, Cyanotype and fabric on cotton, 2025, NFS
Murmuration, Watercolour on Paper, 2025, £750
Babushka of the Herbs, 2018
Crow's Treasures print, Pen and Pencil on Paper, 2016, £20
Projects and exhibitions
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Ones To Watch 202610/01/2026 — ongoing |
Sunny Bank Mills, Leeds | Details |
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Scattered Stories15/10/2025 — 09/11/2025 Scattered Stories A creative exploration by Cassy Oliphant of memory and myth, where family stories meet Chinese and European folktales in shifting acts of repair. |
Left Bank Leeds, Leeds | Details |
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Leeds Summer Group Show 202503/07/2025 — 23/07/2025 My piece Bridge of Magpies was selected to be part of the Summer Group Show that takes place at Leeds Playhouse. |
Leeds Playhouse, Leeds | Details |
Ancient Tongues and Tales19/11/2019 — 12/01/2020 Symbols, story, art... the ways we first discovered how to communicate, to connect. Hidden in the veins of a leaf, in the silvery slime of a snail, in the shoreline’s shifting pattern... are the memories of worlds we’ve always known but believe we have forgotten. In our bones, we hold the stories of stars and sand. In our blood, flows... [Read more] |
The Fernie Brae, Portland, Oregon, UNITED STATES | Details | |
Human Kind Collective Exhibition - Rites of Passage16/06/2018 — 23/06/2018 Rites of passage speak of moments of transformation and stages of deep introspection by the artists of Human Kind as we make sense of our journey on this earth. Each person’s rites in our modern world are completely different, coming from our own unique perspective. We all share a sense of needing this dialogue as our ancient selves scramble... [Read more] |
Aire Place Studios, Leeds | Details | |
Humankind Collective Exhibition - Stories from Wild Women21/05/2017 — 23/06/2017 We are a group of artists responding to nature, the magic we see within it and our role as female storytellers using art to connect us back to earth. Using a range of media, and each with our own styles, we invite you to come in, have a brew and enjoy a celebration of our creativity. |
Aire Place Studios, Leeds | Details |