Meet Clare

The Colourful Studio of British Artist & Designer Clare Haxby

Background - Yorkshire

Born in Yorkshire, England, Clare completed her Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Chesterfield Art College in Derbyshire, then moved to London to study a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking at Kingston upon Thames University. During her degree, she was awarded a Stanley Picker Travel Scholarship to Venezuela and the Amazon Basin in Brazil. This eye-opening trip gave Clare an appetite for travelling and exploring other cultures, and this became a source of inspiration for her artwork.

Clare says, “When I was a child I was always drawing, painting and sewing things at home, and later I made one-off punk clothes for a shop in Sheffield called Hickory Dickory Shock to support myself through my early Art College years in Derbyshire. I have always been at my happiest when I am creating something and I find my inspiration through my environment nature and by travelling to new places'

 

London

Upon graduating, Clare sold a series of life drawings to The Victoria & Albert Museum and was represented by Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London. Clare had a solo show in Brighton England based on her rainforest paintings, and she later set up her first business, The Green Design Company, which was supported by The Prince’s Youth Business Trust. She produced colourful ecologically themed designs on giftware and t-shirts and sold them through Camden Market and then to retailers in the UK, Japan and Singapore.

Commercially Clare has designed printed textiles for leading high street retailers including Liberty's of London, Debenhams and Whistles, as well as ranges of gift wrap, t-shirts and cards for Unicef, Oxfam and Greenpeace.

In the late 90s, Clare changed direction after meeting directors in the film industry, and she started working as a specialist creative make-up artist for commercials and pop videos including Simply Red, Jamiroquai, The Bee Gees and Celine Dion. She also did fashion and hair shoots for celebrity hairdressers Charles Worthington, Richard Ward, Trevor Sorbie and Beverly Cobella.

  

Singapore

In 2007, Clare moved with her family to Singapore where she had the opportunity to return fully to her studio practice of painting and printmaking. Starting with the iconic Raffles Hotel, Clare created a series of large mixed media paintings of Singapore Landmarks and launched them at her solo show 'Singapore Landmarks' at the glamorous Fullerton Hotel in the heart of the Singapore Marina in 2015. Throughout her eight years in Singapore, Clare painted many pieces depicting the city's iconic colonial heritage architecture and modern skyscrapers as well as a series of tropical ginger lily paintings.

The huge demand for Clare's unique artwork inspired by Singapore and her travels around Southeast Asia led Clare to launch an affordable Art Collection of Fine Art Edition Prints. Both her original paintings and her series of Fine Art Editions -prints on cotton rag etching paper found homes with ambassadors in Singapore and Dubai and international expats from all corners of the globe including The French Embassy of Singapore who purchased Clare's Collection of Singapore Landmarks for their refurbished offices.

 

Europe and London

During 2015 to 2017 Clare exhibited her paintings in group exhibitions in Venice, Columbia, Argentina, Rome and London. Clare is currently based in England with a studio in the Surrey Hills just outside London creating her new collection of paintings - London Landmarks. The first of these mixed media canvases depicts the historic Liberty of London Building and  Palm House at Kew Gardens. Recently Fortnum & Mason, Tower Bridge and the huge canvas of the view at Greenwich have been added to the Collection. 

In 2019 Clare was selected as one of 65 from over 1700 artists to win a place in the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Exhibition which tours around the UK through 2020 representing the best in Contemporary Drawing right now.

In 2019 Clare was awarded an artist in residence placement to spend 2 weeks painting and living at Chateaux Orquevaux in Champagne France with other International Artists during 2020.

Clare is working on a new project alongside her Landmarks to bring her colourful design work to Printed Textiles during 2020