ABOUT

The focus of Claire’s work is the exploration of her own physical experience.  She is inspired by bodies, by the relationship between the outer and inner world; both the essential, innate, emotional experience of it, and the throbbing, gritty physicality and inner workings of the body.

Influenced by her background as a keen sportswoman and as a sports massage therapist, and greatly affected by the experiences of her father, who had the rare endocrine condition acromegaly, Claire explores the corporeal, visceral experiences of the landscape around her, particularly while running and walking, alongside the inner sensations and feelings of the body.  Fascinated by the tension between physical space and environment, she draws inspiration from the constantly shifting dynamic of cold and heat, dry and wet, energetic and still.  Her work communicates the sensual, flowing and layered nature of the world we exist in, blurring the boundary between self and the exterior. 

Claire's work is a response to this tactile, complex experience, an emotional exploration of experience and memory. Translating her experiences intuitively; familiar places become part remembered and also re-imagined.  Form becomes ambiguous, with scale and colour being utilised to abstract the familiar. Images are cropped and layered, photos and sketches honed over weeks and months.

Working primarily in oil paints, Claire usually works on several pieces of work simultaneously, using energetic mark making, layering the paint and developing her imagery instinctively. She responds to the materials and to what is taking place on the canvas or board, allowing the emerging images to dictate the direction she takes whilst keeping her central motifs in mind. This combination of process, physical feelings, ‘gut’ instinct and memory is fundamental to the ongoing development of her art practice.

Claire is based in London and currently works from her home studio as well as painting regularly at Hampstead School of Art. She is a member of the Printmakers Council.