About — Cassilhaus

Contact CassiLhaus



Chapel Hill North Carolina
USA

About

Nur tote Fische schwimmen mit dem Strom.

 

So what's a Cassilhaus?

Cassilhaus is a home, a singular piece of architecture, a lifelong arts project, and a love-filled partnership between Ellen Cassilly and Frank Konhaus. Ellen is an architect and community activist and Frank is a retired AV System Designer, Director of the Cassilhaus Artist in Residence and Exhibition Programs, and arts entrepreneur.

After a five-year land search and a three-year design process, Cassilhaus was born as dream home/art gallery/artist studio and residency in the woods between Durham and Chapel Hill, NC and has grown into an exciting nexus for arts activity and community in the Triangle region. Cassilhaus hosts a diverse exhibition program and a multi-disciplinary residency program which bring extraordinary artists from our region and around the world to pollinate and stimulate our little corner of the art world. Cassilhaus was designed by the team at Ellen Cassilly Architect. Take a 3D walk-through tour here.

Ellen Cassilly & Frank Konhaus
Photograph by Michael Prince

our Team

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Jaco and Joni
Cassilkitties

Abandoned and rescued from a trailer park 11 years ago, they don't appreciate how great a gig they have at Cassilhaus. And yes, they are aware of how beautiful they are.

Pictured: Jaco is in the box, and Joni is on top.

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Frank Konhaus
Co-founder, Co-designer, and the haus of Cassilhaus
frank@cassilhaus.com

Frank is a serial entrepreneur who started his first business at age 12. He studied chemistry and industrial design and is the founder of KONTEK Systems, a commercial AV integration company – hence the logical transition to running an artist residency and exhibition program at Cassilhaus. Frank serves on the Collections Committee at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and was one of the founders of the annual Click! Photography Festival. He fell into photography trying to impress an old girlfriend. He got photography and not the girlfriend. He and Ellen are both very happy about that.

Favorite piece in the Cassilhaus collection: It's a tie between Emmet Gowin’s Edith, Chincoteaque, Virginia 1967 and Olivia Parker’s Miss Appelton’s Shoes II.

Jaco or Joni: Couldn’t ever choose. Both melt my heart.

First photograph: While I don't remember my first photo, I do remember the first time I understood that a photograph could be more than a straight document. I was living in an older apartment complex that was undergoing renovation; they had gutted one of the buildings and all of the porcelain toilets from these units were sitting out randomly in the courtyard. Some vandals sprayed black spray paint graffiti on them and that night we had a huge snowstorm. I was taking a black and white darkroom course and I shot photos of the scene and it was pure magic – funny, beautiful, and other-worldly. I was hooked. 

An artist whose work you are inspired by: Artists are my heroes. So many artists inspire me: Ippy Patterson, Sally Mann, Georges Rousse, Zanele Muholi, Gabriel Garcia Roman, and Nancy Rexroth, to name a few.

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Ellen Cassilly
Co-founder, Co-designer, and the Cassil of Cassilhaus

Ellen has been the principal of Ellen Cassilly Architect since 1999. She received her Bachelor's of Environmental Design degree from Texas A&M University and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2017 she was inducted into the Fellows of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). Throughout her career, Ellen has collaborated with architects, artists and clients to design and build single- and multi-family homes, commercial, religious and educational buildings. 

First interests in art: I have always preferred doing over watching, be that in sports or in art. I grew up taking art classes of all sorts. In college I had classes in art and architectural history. Art and the appreciation of art was always in my midst without being over bearing. My mother had a strong personal style and my father was an avid, amateur photographer. It is a pity that he and Frank never met. It would have been a geek lovefest.

Jaco or Joni: I love cuddling with Joni in the evenings and Jaco in the mornings.

Favorite piece in the Cassilhaus collection: Elliot Erwitt's Valencia, Spain. I love the intimacy of the image, and the backstory of Elliot Erwitt and Robert Frank traveling together in Spain.

An artist whose work you are inspired by: Ann Hamilton

Caleb Rivera
Cassilhaus MFA Intern

Caleb is a photographer and artist based in Durham, North Carolina.  He is currently earning an MFA from Duke’s Experimental and Documentary Arts program. Outside of his visual artwork, Caleb plays music as a part of Lightbulbs in the Trees.

He holds a Masters Degree in Architecture from the University of South Florida where he helped to teach Core Design and Design Theory courses.

Favorite piece in the Cassilhaus collection: Masao Yamamoto’s #1142 from Nakazora

Jaco or Joni: Jaco on even days, Joni on odd days.

First Photograph: I can’t remember. For a long time I had no interest in photographs. The first time I deliberately brought a camera somewhere with me was to document my friends and I skating. I put it out of my mind for years until I bought a point-and-shoot in Cologne. It came with me to Paris where I photographed a lonely cowboy at Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre. For whatever reason, that photograph demanded that I keep making pictures.

An artist whose work you are inspired by: Tristan Tzara, Franz Kafka, Egon Schiele, and Charles Sheeler. This list is far from exhaustive.