Claire Lee

claireleeartist.com

My work

In my sculpture, I explore such issues as containment, communication, contradiction, identity and transience.  I often use the human body and figurative work as a vehicle to think about the mind and body’s capacity, as well as organic, architectural and abstract forms. I work in different media, finding that carving into stone and wood, or sculpting clay, allows me to let the material direct and surprise me with what appears.  Building outwards is a different process, though I still often work intuitively when welding and manipulating wire, or layering and constructing with industrial and recycled materials.  I work on different scales, creating small ornamental forms, life-sized figures and larger-than-life pieces that allow engagement spatially and bodily with the work.

Background

I have been creating art for over 20 years, and exhibiting from 2002 when I had a stone sculpture permanently erected in the Wall of Lemba, Cyprus College of Art. Alongside my art practice, I have worked as a clinical psychologist in physical health, an art psychotherapist and as a Reiki practitioner. My work with the mind and body, focus on process, and intuitive use of body and energy, feed both the subject and methods of my art.  I am currently studying for an MA in Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University, researching how physical and emotional resonance is embodied, through making, within sculpture.

I am a founder member of ‘Walkley Edge’ artists and have co-organised and co-curated the Walkley Festival Art Show annually from 2006, as well as other exhibitions in Sheffield, such as at The Workstation and The Circle Gallery.  I am a member of Bank Street Arts in Sheffield, and I currently have a studio with Yorkshire Artspace, Sheffield.