Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident 2024
Claire received her BA in Ceramic Arts from Gonzaga University in 2015, where she participated in several invitational shows and earned the Senior Arts Award. After college, she completed a two year internship with the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, collaborating with celebrated ceramicists and developing her own experimental style. She taught ceramics in Montana and Oregon for several years before relocating to Arizona to join Reitz Ranch Center for Ceramic Arts in 2021. Claire currently shows at Zen Mountain Gallery, Sedona Artist Market, and is collaborating in opening a gallery and showing at Box Car Clay in Cottonwood, Az.
As an avid hiker and Northwest native, my work is inspired by my personal mantra: “look down”. Look down to avoid tripping over gnarled root systems. Look down to keep the wind and rain out of my eyes.
With my eyes down, I am isolated from exterior human energy, and in this space an intimacy emerges between myself and the ground I am walking on. I have spent much of my life examining the world underneath my feet, immersed in the microcosmic wonders of rocks, sticks, tree bark, fungi, and even the little bits of moss that grow between the cracks in the sidewalk.
In my studio practice, I contrast hyper-realism with stylization, and apply complex texture to both surface and form. The layers that result from this union entice my viewers to come in closer, to study my works with the same intensity and focus as I study the forest floor. I seek to renew our reverence for–and fascination with–the beautiful bits of nature that we step over carelessly every day.