Claire Benn - ARTIST

Solitude.  Stillness.  Silence. Experienced in wilderness landscapes and made visual through cloth and earth pigments, thread and hand stitch. Cloth is described by Anni Albers as “the pliable plane” and can be manipulated, stitched, backed and presented as an unstretched canvas or stretched and sometimes framed. Claire appreciates the tactile qualities of her materials. Process and being hands on are important to her, as is the craft that underpins the making of her art. Landscape provides inspiration as there’s so much to see, feel and experience: the long view, the wide-open spaces, the terrain, the soil, the plants and the creatures.

Claire’s family encouraged painting and drawing but school did not. Even then, the arts were viewed as less important than other subjects. Not being academically-minded, Claire left Sixth Form at seventeen and started work, eventually becoming a freelance training and development consultant specialising in one-to-one coaching.

In 1998 she re-focused her career on art and engaged in self-directed studio work and study with practising artists.  Claire’s previous career gave her a skill set to establish a teaching practice and in 2001, she set up a teaching studio in partnership with Leslie Morgan (‘Committed to Cloth’), focused on art textiles. Teaching provided an income and Claire also believes that “to teach is to learn twice”. Although Claire still teaches at other studios she stood down from the partnership in 2015 in order to have more time to focus on her own work.

Exhibitions (see Exhibitions for dates)

Claire Benn’s work has been exhibited in  galleries on an international scale, including:

UK - forthcoming in 2023 (see ‘Exhibitions’):
‘Earth Materials’, Gallery 57, Arundel
Flow Gallery, Notting Hill and Flow at Collect, Somerset House
‘Unearthed’, Gallery 57, Arundel

UK: previous to 2023: ‘Her Quiet Materials - Inside Atacama’, Gallery 57, Arundel (2021); ‘Warp, Weft, Stitch & Thread’, Gallery 57 (2021); ‘ViewSeven’, London (2013, 2015, 2017); 'Lines, Rows, Rhythm & Repetition', Birmingham (2016); ‘Creative Link’ Grace Barrand Design Centre (2005); 'Committed to Cloth' London & Harrogate (2004); 'Complex Cloth' (London & Harrogate (2004),

USA: 'Material Pulses; Eight Viewpoints' (2016-2023), ‘Unfurled' Nebraska (2007), ‘Never Static’ Minneapolis (2006). 

EUROPE: 'Of Place & Time', Bad Soden, Germany (2015); ‘European Art Quilt’ touring Europe and the USA (2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014,2017);  The Florence Biennale (2007).

In addition to the public exhibition programme, her works feature in both commercial and private collections.

Publications & TEACHING

CATALOGUES: for more information, visit the ‘Catalogues’ section at the bottom of the page.

‘Here & There’; to be published January 2023

‘Her Quiet Materials - Inside Atacama’

‘Her Quiet Materials: Solitude, Stillness & Silence’
(out of print)

Claire teaches internationally at various studio venues. For information about the schedule, visit the 'Teaching' section at the bottom of the page.

Curating

Claire has also curated exhibitions and served as a juror for European Art Quilt 2010, 2012 and 2014, and Fine Art Quilt Masters in 2013.