Nellie Lowe Unit 4 : Claire Brewster

Portrait of Claire Brewster

Claire Brewster is an English artists who grew up in Lincolnshire and has been living and working in London for 20 years. She has pursued art as a profession since the year 2000 and not up until recently did she start working on her sculptures as a full-time profession. Since her childhood she has always been very interested and fascinated by art. Her journey to becoming a professional artist has involved her living in Romania and Spain, where she worked for a high-profile architect’s practice amongst other things. Whilst working at this practice she always set time apart to do her own personal art, where she was her own boss and could create what she wanted to create with no boundaries.

Her work has been exhibited in various countries, varying from Manchester Art Gallery all the way to in Sydney, Australia, as well as The Corinthia Hotel in London, The Hayatt Hotel in New Orleans, and The Caledonian Hotel, in Edinburgh. As well as hotels she has had work published in books and magazines, including Vogue, Marie-Claire Maison, Casa de Arbitrare, World of Interiors etc.

Thanks to her work she has been invited to be a inaugural member of the Perrier Jouet Art Salon and Prize, where twice a year they award a prize to an artist or designer within 5 years of graduating.

Brewster uses out-of-date maps as her fabric to create detailed collages and sculptures. She is inspired by the natural environment, “My birds, insects and flowers transcend borders and pass freely between countries with scant regard for rules of immigration or the effects of biodiversity.”

Brewster also uses a light to project onto her sculptures to create a shadow, giving her work a dynamic three-dimensional effect, also giving them a feeling of life and movement.
I found it very difficult to find much information on some of Brewster's work. One of my favourite sculptures of hers is the one of what I imagine is a hummingbird, from which I can see she has used a map of Asia to sculpt it from. The reason this is my favourite piece by her is quite possible because hummingbirds are one of my favourite types of birds, and the colours from the map are vibrant and eye-catching, unlike some of the maps she uses which are brown and, in my opinion, slightly dull. I couldn't find an exact title for the piece of work I chose to display as her best example, however I am aware that she doesn't always title each piece of work individually. This particular piece was exhibited in her "Flow Gallery" and on her website.