Jaco and Joni
Cassilkitties

Abandoned and rescued from a trailer park ten 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.

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.

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

Christina Wytko
Gallery Czarina

From Nevada to North Carolina to Texas to Missouri, Christina made her way to Durham, NC after completing her M.A. in Art History at the University of Missouri. Prior to her studies at Mizzou, she double majored in Art History and French at UNC Wilmington with a focus in Medieval and Northern Renaissance art, interned with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and chased some life-changing exhibitions around Europe. Her research interests now lie in the art market and patterns of collecting in Europe and the United States throughout the 20th century, specifically post-war displacement and movement of medieval and other objects. Christina also works as the Educational Programs & Communications Coordinator at the Gregg Museum of Art & Design.

Favorite piece in the Cassilhaus collection: Currently Rimma Gerlovina and Valeriy Gerlovin’s Birth of Aphrodite.

Jaco or Joni: Jaco for his Houdini-like escape skills and Joni for her brains and beauty.

First interests in art: In third grade my art teacher taught us about Vincent van Gogh. While we painted our own versions of Starry Night, she played Don McLean’s song Vincent and that has stuck with me ever since.

An artist whose work you are inspired by: As an art historian, I am inspired by both artists (like Hieronymus Bosch and Kehinde Wiley) and scholars (like Caroline Walker Bynum and Linda Nochlin) to think outside the box, ask the uncomfortable questions and look at art in new and exciting ways.

Natasha Lehner
Cassilhaus MFA Intern

Natasha is a photographer and filmmaker from Pound Ridge, NY. Upon graduating from Belmont University in Nashville, TN (2020), she has worked alongside photographers such as Alec Soth, Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb. She currently resides in Durham, NC where she is an MFA candidate in the Experimental and Documentary Arts program at Duke University.

Favorite piece in the Cassilhaus collection: At the moment, Odette England’s Photo of Me Without Me #9

Jaco or Joni: This feels like a trick question. 

First Photograph: During the great northeast blackout of 2003, my father set his Nikkormat on a tripod in the livingroom and posed my sister and I lounging as though we were figures in an impressionist painting. I am posed wearing my Sunday best as I pretend to read a book. My father fondly named this photo The Great Northeast Blackout of 2003 and a copy of it has hung on the walls of my childhood home since I was five years old. I look at this photo with just as much love and adoration as I did nearly 20 years ago when I viewed it for the first time.

An artist whose work you are inspired by: The list of artists that inspire me is many and varied but perhaps the most consistent inspiration throughout my life has been the work of Stephen Shore.