statement
ARTIST STATEMENT
Artist Statement
Drawing has always been at the core of my art, whether in paint, graphite, collage, or ink. My art training was in textile arts. I see the transition from using thread like materials to creating lines with pen or pencil as a natural progression of that history. I’ve become especially interested lately in ancient writing systems such as Egyptian scripts and Buddhist texts and have been moved by the Dreaming paintings of the aboriginal Australians and by the textile paintings of African art on cloth and bark.
Most recently, I’ve been working with graphite, and ink pens drawing simple circles, outlined, filled in and often with a smaller dot within. Some are as small as the head of a pin and others the size of a fingerprint. They cluster and form chains arranging themselves into an organic shape. I work haphazardly, with circles going in different directions. Sometimes I draw with my non-dominant hand, or cover the previous work so that I can’t see what I’ve already done. The form that emerges from many hours of this work usually surprises me.
“Drawing,” Paul Klee once declared, “is the probability of art,” revealing his belief that – at least for him – drawing’s immediacy represented a method and means of exploring his inner world. My work explores time and an innate desire to explore the unknown as it’s subject matter. In making a drawing, I vacate my mind and give way to experience time as something abstract, unpredictable, sometimes circular and metaphorical. Time is not something academic or esoteric, but simply how we feel our existence most of our lives. I invite viewers to discover the unexpected, honor the moment, and the infinite power of time.
-Claire Browne, January 2024
biography
The attic of our old house in Pittsburgh, filled with the various bits of debris and forgotten objects, traces the beginning of what I now realize was my art making. There were buttons and bottles and shreds of paper, broken toys, tattered old doilies – these I formed and reformed until a piece satisfied me.
I was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and raised in Pittsburgh. As an adult, I moved to Wiesbaden, Germany, and traveled around Europe to the United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, and France. Inspired by the continent’s art, architecture, and textiles, I returned to the U.S. and enrolled at Claremont Graduate University in California to pursue an art degree.
I remained in Los Angeles after completing my degree, enjoying the cultural diversity and unconventional lifestyles. In 2000, I began to exhibit at Newspace Gallery. At that time my artwork was strongly influenced by the vast sky I could see from my California hillside home, and by frequent visits to Joshua Tree, California.
In 2009, I moved to Portland, where I enjoy living near the waterfront—the morning mist over the river, the skies at night and the view across the water to the east. I am still a frequent visitor to Joshua Tree. I’m inspired by the endless, arid landscape of desert wildflowers and Joshua Trees, and the visible stars that alter space and time. The contrast between the city of Portland and the serene desert allows me to see each with renewed eyes.
I have had solo exhibitions at Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles; AndrewShire Gallery, Los Angeles; Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Claremont, California; Loyola Law School, Los Angeles; Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California; and other galleries throughout the West coast. My work has been included in the Pacific Coast edition of New American Painting, and reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, Artscene, and Artweek, among others. I have been an adjunct instructor at UCLA, Santa Monica College, University of LaVerne, and Chaffey College.
cv
“Untitled” Guardino Gallery, Portland OR 2019
"Holiday Exibition" Ford Gallery, Portland, OR 2018
“Blackout” Ashton Gallery, San Diego, CA 2018
“Abstract Catalyst 5” Gillia Gallery, Portland, OR 2018
"Visions and Revisions: A Five-Year Conversation" Jeffery Thomas Fine Arts, Portland, OR 2016
"4x4" Rochester Arts Center, Rochester, NY 2014
"Gallery Artists" Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 2012
"Good to Go" Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2006
"The Box Show" Davis and Kline Galleries, Ashland, OR 2005
"Mind Time" Newspace, Los Angeles, CA 2004
"New Works" Andrewshire Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2003
"Unknown" Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2002
"In the Mind's Eye: Intersections of Art and Science" Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA 2002
"Spare (P)art" SITE Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1995
"Get Back" Claremont Graduate School Alumni Exhibition, Claremont Graduate School Galleries, Claremont, CA 1994
"Best Foot Forward" The Drawing Room Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 1993
"Double Vision" Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, CA 1993
"Unification: Cultures in Collusion" FHP Hippodrome Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (Juror: Artist Betye Saar) 1993
"In Site - Out of Site" Platt Gallery, University of Judaism, Los Angeles, CA 1993
"Black and White" Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA 1993
Art Faculty Exhibition, Norman F. Feldheym Galleries, San Bernardino, CA 1992
"Interior Fragments" San Bernardino Valley College Gallery, San Bernardino, CA 1992
"San Bernardino County Art Faculty Exhibition" San Bernardino College Gallery, San Bernardion, CA 1992
"Cycles" Brand Library and Art Gallery, Glendale, CA 1991
"Huts Boxes Dwellings" DA Gallery, Pomona, CA 1991
"Kern County Artists" Bakersfield Art Gallery, Bakersfield, CA 1989
"New Paintings" Riverside Art Museum/Gallery, Riverside, CA 1983
"Recent Work on Paper" Claremont Graduate University Gallery, Claremont, CA 1982
bibliography
Ohlman, Leah "Bursting with Youthful Energy," Los Angeles Times. 2004
Brumer, Andy, Artscene, Volume 23, No. 8. 2004
"New American Paintings, Volume 43," Open Studios Press, Boston, MA. 2002
MacNaughton, Mary, "In the Mind's Sky: Intersections of Art and Science," Ruth Chandler WIlliamson Gallery, ScrippsCollege, Exhibition Essay. 2000
Calder, Diane, "Intersections of Art and Science," Artscene, Vol. 20, No. 1. 2000
Muchnic, Suzanne, "Inspired Leaps from the Lab to the Studio," LA Times Calendar, August 27. 2000
Krupnick, Matt, "Combining Art and Science," Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, August 26. 2000
Vayda, Priscilla, ArtScape, Cheers! 2000
Kapitanoff, Nancy, "Sharing Life's Crosses," Los Angeles Times, Valley Edition, July 2. 1993
Roth, Charlene, "Choreographing Change," Artweek, June 17. 1993
Heredia, Rick, "Art Takes Varying Shapes," Bakersfield Californian, April 19. 1989
Simon, Hazel, "Painted Paper Created to Fit Gallery," Riverside Press-Enterprise. 1983
additional activities
Panel Discussions, Jeffrey Thomas Fine Arts, Portland, OR 2016
Artist Lecture, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA 2000
Visiting Artist Lecture, California Institute for Women, Chino, CA 1995
Visiting Artist Lecture, Metropolitan State Hospital, Norwalk, CA 1994
Visiting Artist Lecture on "Interior Fragments" Exhibition, San Bernardino Valley College, San Bernardino, CA 1992
Printmaking Workshop, Bakersfield, CA 1988
education
Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, Master of Fine Arts
Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, Bachelor of Fine Arts in English Literature