Claire’s ceramic sculptures explore the uncertain space between the earthly and the ethereal. Working in porcelain, terracotta, and stoneware, her figures are made from the raw earth, formed by hand and brought into a state of being where they hover on the brink of consciousness. A head lies with its lips touching a golden pool; a pair of terracotta figures stand side by side fresh-formed, their lips and fingers tipped in the same gold as if having had their first taste of a greater existence. This sense of magic and mythological animism runs like a golden thread through Claire’s sculptures.
Claire Curneen is one of the most accomplished ceramicists working in the UK today. Originally from Tralee in the Republic of Ireland, she graduated from Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork in 1990 with a Diploma in Art and Design (Ceramics). She holds a postgraduate diploma in Applied Arts from the University of Ulster, Belfast and an MA Ceramics from the Cardiff Institute of Higher Eduction. Currently based in Cardiff, her work appears in numerous important public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; National Museum of Ireland; The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh; Crafts Council, London; National Museum & Gallery of Wales, Cardiff; Clay Studio, Philadelphia; Taipei Ceramics Museum, Taiwan; Benaki Museum, Athens; and the Arizona State University Art Museum, USA, amongst many others.
