BIO:
From her earliest memory, being anything other than an artist was never a consideration for Claire Burbridge. One of twins born to seventies’ London—then raised between Scotland’s rugged west coast and the rolling hills of rural Somerset—Claire’s perspective, her flair, reflects her absorption and understanding of both the urban and the rustic environment.
To describe Claire’s style of work is like trying to define the ocean. Her art has a heartfelt spontaneity. It is at once unpredictable and possessed by minutiae, by intricate detail. Claire has an unmistakable style; a fluency in a visual language that is completely her own.
Observations of the endless creativity and form of the natural world are her greatest inspiration. Fascinated by close scrutiny of a spider’s web, the structure of gills on a mushroom, the reflective quality of fish scales or butterfly wings—a drifting birds feather or a piece of lichen- fallen from a tree—all have played their part in her work.
Encounters with the wilderness—of vast open spaces—inspire Claire’s art. Norway, Oregon and Namibia in particular, where geographical grandeur vies with bold colors, has imprinted on the artist’s mind indelible memories; enthralling scenarios on which Claire has based much of her body of work.
Claire’s work reflects a constant exchange between spontaneous, intuitive decisions on subject and color, and the underlying order that governs each work's basic structure. These supporting matrices — based on ideas such as Fibonacci sequencing, the golden section and the geometric proportions found in traditional Islamic design — reflect the recurring patterns found in nature at both the macro and micro levels, and may impart either an explicit fundamental structure to a work, or an implicit governing principle — or both.
Lacking energy after the birth of her baby she began creating delicate thread and wire stitched figures which eventually found their way into large-scale wall pieces. She has learned how to crochet wire, developing a peculiar left-handed technique to intricately link together strands of metal thread ( bronze, stainless steel, copper, nickel silver, gold, titanium), embroidery threads, and wire-threaded objects.
Her sculptures encompass a wealth of found objects: feathers, glass fragments, semi-precious stones, thread, remnants of antique fabrics, lace and amber. Claire is a forager of art and ideas. Though, she delights in using mundane materials—a piece of fishing line, for example—and exploring their intrinsic beauty; the beauty of something seemingly-lifeless reincarnated when interwoven with colours and textures.
Pieces are often modular and reversible, adding a great versatility to the display possibilities of the work giving each curator and exhibition space creative input of its own. She holds the firm belief that the best work is born through spontaneous collaboration.
Claire’s latest foray is into wallpapers, a journey borne from her desire to work in an infinitely large medium, following her 2017 show with Nancy Toomey. The papers reflect nature encapsulated through observational drawing, the play of light on form; both a mode unfettered and means to bring unframed fine art drawings and verdure into the homes and work spaces of dreamers; those city dwellers whose hearts belong in nature.
To view Claire's entire body of work to date, visit www.claireburbridgeart.