Claudia Clare British, b. 1962
“I make pots so I’ve got something to paint on - by 'paint,' I mean with slip. All my materials are ceramic. I was trained to paint on canvas but found the turning surface of a more pot sympathetic to an unfolding visual narrative. Pots are our museum pieces, our archaeological and documentary evidence. Their human, cultural and historic associations appeal to me as a feminist artist interested in recording and interpreting women’s histories and contemporary lives.
Pots also break and can be rebuilt. It is a compelling metaphor for the human experience of trauma and survival: ‘I was shattered. Now I’m piecing myself slowly back together.’ I use this method particularly in my feminist work when I'm responding to accounts of forgotten or marginalised lives. These pots can act as a memorial and also serve as a call for action especially when part of a performance. “
Education
2007 PhD University of Westminster, London. Media, Art & Design.
1990-91 Winchcombe Pottery, Gloucestershire. Apprenticeship 1 year (ceramics)
1985 Fine Art B.A. Hons. Camberwell School of Art and Craft. London (painting)
Exhibitions
2023 Feminist Satire, No Safe Spaces, Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, (catalogue, English and Polish.)
2022 Fired! Gallery 286, London
2021 Claudia Clare at the Sewell Centre Gallery, Radley College
2020 Fragmented, Zuleika Gallery, with Frances Aviva Blane (catalogue)
2020 Collect 2020, Somerset House, with Alice Kettle and Candida Stevens Gallery
2019 Traveling West, Pots by Claudia Clare, Huguenot Museum, Rochester
2019 London Art Fair, Zulieka Gallery, two-person display
2018 The Wootton Pots, Zuleika Gallery, Oxford, (catalogue)
2017 Claudia Clare pots, Grayson Perry Prints, Zuleika Gallery, London (catalogue)
2017 The Summer Pots, Gallery 286, London,
2012 An Extraordinary Turn of Events, Francis Kyle Gallery, London, (catalogue)
2011 Remembering Atefeh, Commemorative Performance, Hyde Park, London
2007-2010 Shattered, London Gallery West, and touring, (catalogue)
2001 An Alien in the Kitchen. Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham
1999 Collection for the Zsolnay Sisters. Rich Women of Zurich, London.
1996-1998 The World Service. Geffrye Museum, London and touring, (catalogue.)
Group Exhibitions
2021 Untouchable, Liliya Art Gallery, London
2019 Dear Christine, Vane Gallery, Newcastle, and touring (catalogue)
2018 Once Upon a Time, North Wall, Oxford, (catalogue)
2017 Never Going Underground, People’s History Museum, Manchester
2016 Hidden Agenda, The Wilson, Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery
2013 British Ceramics Biennial, Award 2013, Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent
2013 In the Name of Honour, 1 Mayfair, London, (catalogue)
2011 I Am Human, New Schoolhouse Gallery, York
2010 Fired Up, Ceramics and Meaning, Gallery Oldham, (catalogue)
Public Commissions, Social Projects, Performances
2023 Keep Prisons Single Sex, Elizabeth Fry bicentenary commission.
2022 Filia International Feminist Conference, Sink the Sex Trade - design for prints
2021 Fore Street for All, Survivors and Fighters Talk - talk and showcase
2021 women@thewell, An Evening with women@thewell and Claudia Clare, Brave Face, performance
2021 Filia International Feminist Conference, Femicide Vigil - performance
2019 Filia International Feminist Conference, Memorial March Vigil - performance
2019-date women@thewell, London, And The Door Opened - social project
2001-3 Paved Paradise. Architectural project. West Yorkshire.
Public Collection
Transcultural Collection, Bradford Museums and Art Galleries.
New Hall Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge. (Catalogue.)
Pankhurst Museum, Manchester
Press coverage
Books
2023 Katie Treggiden, Repair as Activism, Ludion
2021 Bonnie Kemske, Kintsugi: The Poetic Mend, Herbert Press
2012 Paul Scott, Ceramics and Print, Third Edition, A&C Black, UK.
2010 Linda Bloomfield, Advanced Pottery Making, Robert Hale, UK
2009 Emmanuel Cooper, Contemporary Ceramics International Perspective, Thames & Hudson, UK.
2004 Gwen Heeney, Brickworks, A&C Black, UK
Film, Television, Radio
2021-22 Talk Radio UK, Bob Mills in the Afternoon, 'What's on in the arts this month'
2021 GBN, Inaya Folarin Iman, 'Is censorship a problem in the arts?'
2019 BBC Radio 4, Woman’s Hour Takeover with Harriet Wistrich, ‘Feminist ceramics’
2011 Manoto, 21st December, The Culture Programme, ‘Claudia Clare, Ceramic Artist,’ director / editor, 5th Season (in Farsi)
2011 Green Camera, ‘Khorshid,’ director/editor Hossein Taraz (in Farsi with English subtitles)
Press
2024 Unherd, 'How Activists Captured the Arts Council,' Jonny Best
2024 Museums Journal, 'Battle Over Free Speech,' Geraldine Kendall Adams
2024 Obieg, 'Censorship in Art and the New Taboos,' Kaya Szulczewska
2023 Kolektyw Labrys, 'Feminist Intervention and Satire,' by the Collective
2023 The Critic, 'Breaking Taboos with Clay,' Jo Bartosch
2023 Studio International, 'A Spirit Inside,' Beth Williamson
2023 Artforum, 'Cultural Whiplash in Warsaw,' Claire Bishop,
2022 Unherd, 'Ceramicist De-platformed for being a "SWERF",' Julie Bindel
2022 Spiked Online, 'The Closing of the Artistic Mind,' Josephine Bartosch
2022 Daily Mail, 'Ceramic Artist Cancelled,' Matthew Lodge
2022 Telegraph, 'Cancel Culture Row,' Ewan Somerville
2022 Real Democracy Now, 'The Stuff of Dreams and Nightmares,' Corinna Lotz
2020 The Glass Magazine, ‘Glass Previews Fragmented,’ Connie de Pelet
2020 Morning Star, ‘Shattered Illusions,’ Josephine Bartosch
2020 Spiked Online, ‘The Silencing of Feminist Artists,’ Josephine Bartosch
2019 Financial Times, ‘The Shifting Fortunes of Art Fairs,’ Melanie Gerlis
2019 Private Eye, ‘Scene & Heard,’ David Ziggy Green,
2017 Ceramic Review, ‘Pots with a Story to Tell,’ Claudia Clare
2016 Crafts Magazine, ‘Hidden Agenda,’ review, Emma Crichton-Miller
2013 The Independent: ‘Bloom Time,’ John Walsh
2013 Irish Post: ‘The London Exhibition Leaving Ulysses Fans Spoiled for Joyce,’ James Martin
2013 Ceramic Review, ‘Extraordinary Turn of Events,’ review, Tanya Harrod
2012 Financial Times, ‘Claudia Clare: An Extraordinary Turn of Events,’ Critics Choice, Jackie Wullschlager
2011 Ceramic Review, 252, ‘Breaking a Pot: Remembering Atefeh,’ Kimberley Chandler
2011 Pendaar, issues 3, (March, in English) and 6, (July, in Farsi), ‘Interview with Claudia Clare,’ feature, Iman Nabavi
2010 Ceramic Review, 246, ‘Fired Up: Ceramics and Meaning,’ Review, Liz Mitchell
2009 Parikiaki, 17th December, ‘Shattered: An Exhibition Of Ceramics By Claudia Clare,’ Dr. Criton Tomazos. (Greek / English)
2009 Londra Gazete, ‘Women Must Seek,’ Suzan Nuri, (Turkish / English).
2009 Financial Times, ‘That Gong Tormented Sea,’ Critics Choice, Jackie Wullschlager.
2007 Ceramic Review, 229, “Ceramics and installation,” Emma Shaw.
Teaching
2018 Brookes University, Oxford
2017 Royal Drawing School, visiting lecturer
2010-date Sotheby’s Institute, Visiting Lecturer
Awards and Sponsorships
2004 University of Westminster. Travel bursary 2 months research in Iran.
2001 Churchill Travel Fellowship, Hungary, Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan.
1998 Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, residency Kecskemet, Hungary
Publications by Claudia Clare
Books
2016 Subversive Ceramics, Bloomsbury, London
2011 The Pot Book, co-authored with Edmund de Waal, Phaidon, London
Articles
2024 Artforum, Response to Claire Bishop, Letters
2017 Gallery Oldham, ‘Overplapping Fields: the meeting of urban and rural influences in the Emilie Taylor’s Edgelands,' catalogue essay
2016 Jewish Museum, London, ‘Shaping Ceramics – Future Tense,' in ‘Shaping Ceramics: From Lucie Rie to Edmund de Waal,' catalogue essay
2015 Stephanie Hoppen Gallery, ‘Avital Sheffer,’ catalogue essay
1997-date Ceramic Review, regular contributor writing features and reviews
2009 International Feminist Journal of Politics, ‘The Art of Crafting the Future
Present-Past,’ with Marysia Zalewski, Alex Brew, Merlyn Riggs, Charlie Hackett.
Conference Papers and Lectures
2022 Women's Declaration International, Feminist Question Time, 'Censorship in the Visual Arts and the attack on Feminist Artists,' panel
2022 Tate Modern, Tate Modern Lates, 'Lesbian identity, Pottery, and Artistic Process,' panel
2022 Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Arts, Warsaw, Culture Tensions, 'A Woman's Right to Choose?' panel
2022 Liberal Voice for Women, 'The Cancellation of Art,' in conversation with Rosie Kay
2022 The Women's Art Collection, London Art Fair, 'Feminism and Curating,' panel
2021 Filia International Feminist Conference, 'Creative Resistance,' panel
2016 Hidden Agenda: Crafting Change, The Wilson, Cheltenham, 'Subversive Ceramics,' lecture
2016 Radical Ceramics: The Clause 28 Tea Set, The People's History Museum, National Festival of LGBT History, Manchester
2012 Subversive Ceramics: exploring ideas in contemporary ceramic practice, Holburne Museum, Bath, ‘Satire, Subversion and Revolution.’
2009 East & West: Cross-Cultural Encounters, University of St. Andrews, ‘The Artist and The Coup D’Etat: A Users Guide To Exhibiting In Politically Unstable Situations.’
2008 Connecting Cultures, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, “Artists and Public Collections in the 21st Century: Opportunity or Risk?”
2008 Ending International Feminist Futures, University of Aberdeen, ‘Traffic: A Pot From Shattered.’
2008 A Woman’s Place: Locating the Feminine in Modern and Contemporary Culture. Newcastle University, “Princess Hymen: A Pot from Shattered.”
2007 Parallels and Connections. University of Sunderland. National Glass Centre. “Shattered: Surviving Sexual violence, mediated through ceramic materiality.”
2005 Storytelling and Poetry. International Ceramic Research Centre. Denmark. “So She Took a Sharp Knife. Trauma and Survival narrated through ceramics.”
2000 Fired Up North. University of Central Lancashire. International ceramics conference. “Soul Food and Revisiting the Renaissance.”
1999 Edge, identity and change. Western Australian School of Art, Design and Media. “International Ceramics Conference, Perth, Australia, European Ceramics, and Cultural representation.”
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Vice and Virtue
20 Jun - 26 Jul 2024Ruup & Form is pleased to present Vice and Virtue features the work of six exceptional artists: - Anna Berry - Claudia Clare - Con She - Kay Le...Read more -
Inspired
7 Mar - 5 Apr 2024Read more -
inspired
Collect 2024 28 Feb - 3 Mar 2024COLLECT INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR 2024 Ruup & Form is delighted to be returning to Collect 2024 VIP PREVIEW 28/ 29 Feb 2024 01-03 Mar | 11.00 - 18.00 Exhibiting works...Read more -
Winter Exhibition 2023
4 - 22 Dec 2023Anne Butler , Claire Malet, Archana Pathak, Bridget Harvey, Erum Aamir, Fleur Grenier, Hannah Walters, Hannah Lane, Katie Spragg, Melissa Hampson-Smith, Naomi Mcintosh, Richard McVetis, Rachna Garodia, Solenne Jolivet ...Read more -
In Quest for Harmony
Collect 2023 1 - 5 Mar 2023Booth W4, West Wing Open to all : 3- 5 March , 2023 By Invitation :1-2 March 2023 Artsy.net Wednesday 1 March, 2023 Ruup & Form curates In Quest...Read more -
London Art Fair 2023
18 - 22 Jan 2023Stand 5 Preview Day Tuesday 17th January Open to public 18-22nd Jan Fair Open Times Wednesday 18th January 11.00 – 21.00 Thursday 19th January 11.00 – 21.00 ...Read more
