Claire Elise

Claire Elise

https://www.claire-elise-art.com/

Artist Statement:

My work revolves around the general idea of the human condition. More specifically I am drawn to the human psyche and emotions, especially those that I have dealt with in my own life. My work is a collection of self-portraits that surmise past moments, feelings and memories that are derived from having grown up in a stifling, emotionally abusive, and neglectful environment. I seek to encapsulate these personal struggles in order to discover who I am, and who I have been, and who I can become.

In ceramics, I tend to work at a bigger scale which emphasizes the importance of these emotional moments. I find that a larger scale also gives a sense of enormity, seriousness, and a sense of relation to these feelings as a whole. Every texture and color I use, is chosen to emphasize each specific moments or feelings that I address in each piece. Much is derived from my childhood, and how encapsulating those feeling now, allows for reflection and growth as both a person and an artist.

Locked Away stems from how growing up in a stifling environment left no outlet to deal with my own thoughts and emotions.  It represents everything that I have had to keep to myself- the good, the bad, and the ugly. The organic forms inside represent specific emt0ions and memories at one time or another. They’re all bundled and jumbled together, confined within the form, yet some are reaching outside of the form because they can’t all be contained.