The Gallery of Contemporary Textile Artists
Claire Barber
United Kingdom
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Artist's Statement
Claire has created work in response to numerous commission briefs and residencies which has informed her practice through dialogue with members of the public, project directors, curators and various funding bodies. This multiplicity of contexts has meant that collaboration and the exchange of ideas have become innate in her practice.
Her practice grows from the interconnection between place and the way people are connected to their surrounding environment, predominantly producing site conditional work. Since 2004 Claire has worked extensively with communities affected by environmental and economic change, often employing a working method that touches people’s everyday lives, asking them to record their individual thoughts and experiences and then using the accumulated material to make a visual intervention about their understanding of place.
For example during the building of the Weymouth Relief Road in preparation for the 2012 Olympics, Claire collected the thoughts and feelings of those living in the area to challenge her preconceptions of a community linked and simultaneously divided through the construction of a new road. After a period of consultation with Littlemoor community members, road builders/engineers and Dorset County Councillors Claire developed an interactive artwork called 'Littlemoor Wishes'. The work consisted of printed instruction, tie clips and three laser cut neoprene tags contained in a small transparent clip-seal bag that was individually posted to every 2400 Littlemoor households. A pen was also provided for people to hand write their own wishes, desires, protests or hopes, with instructions to tie them onto the metal Herris fencing surrounding the Relief Road works. The response was such that soon huge clusters of brightly coloured tags were seen fluttering on the Herris fencing against a moving backdrop of road building.
Currently Claire is working with curator June Hill questioning ways that an investment of time and attention given to an abandoned sleeping bag may provide a potent gift of personalised expression. -
Artist's Statement
Claire has created work in response to numerous commission briefs and residencies which has informed her practice through dialogue with members of the public, project directors, curators and various funding bodies. This multiplicity of contexts has meant that collaboration and the exchange of ideas have become innate in her practice.
Her practice grows from the interconnection between place and the way people are connected to their surrounding environment, predominantly producing site conditional work. Since 2004 Claire has worked extensively with communities affected by environmental and economic change, often employing a working method that touches people’s everyday lives, asking them to record their individual thoughts and experiences and then using the accumulated material to make a visual intervention about their understanding of place.
For example during the building of the Weymouth Relief Road in preparation for the 2012 Olympics, Claire collected the thoughts and feelings of those living in the area to challenge her preconceptions of a community linked and simultaneously divided through the construction of a new road. After a period of consultation with Littlemoor community members, road builders/engineers and Dorset County Councillors Claire developed an interactive artwork called 'Littlemoor Wishes'. The work consisted of printed instruction, tie clips and three laser cut neoprene tags contained in a small transparent clip-seal bag that was individually posted to every 2400 Littlemoor households. A pen was also provided for people to hand write their own wishes, desires, protests or hopes, with instructions to tie them onto the metal Herris fencing surrounding the Relief Road works. The response was such that soon huge clusters of brightly coloured tags were seen fluttering on the Herris fencing against a moving backdrop of road building.
Currently Claire is working with curator June Hill questioning ways that an investment of time and attention given to an abandoned sleeping bag may provide a potent gift of personalised expression. -
Artist's Statement
Claire has created work in response to numerous commission briefs and residencies which has informed her practice through dialogue with members of the public, project directors, curators and various funding bodies. This multiplicity of contexts has meant that collaboration and the exchange of ideas have become innate in her practice.
Her practice grows from the interconnection between place and the way people are connected to their surrounding environment, predominantly producing site conditional work. Since 2004 Claire has worked extensively with communities affected by environmental and economic change, often employing a working method that touches people’s everyday lives, asking them to record their individual thoughts and experiences and then using the accumulated material to make a visual intervention about their understanding of place.
For example during the building of the Weymouth Relief Road in preparation for the 2012 Olympics, Claire collected the thoughts and feelings of those living in the area to challenge her preconceptions of a community linked and simultaneously divided through the construction of a new road. After a period of consultation with Littlemoor community members, road builders/engineers and Dorset County Councillors Claire developed an interactive artwork called 'Littlemoor Wishes'. The work consisted of printed instruction, tie clips and three laser cut neoprene tags contained in a small transparent clip-seal bag that was individually posted to every 2400 Littlemoor households. A pen was also provided for people to hand write their own wishes, desires, protests or hopes, with instructions to tie them onto the metal Herris fencing surrounding the Relief Road works. The response was such that soon huge clusters of brightly coloured tags were seen fluttering on the Herris fencing against a moving backdrop of road building.
Currently Claire is working with curator June Hill questioning ways that an investment of time and attention given to an abandoned sleeping bag may provide a potent gift of personalised expression. -
Artist's Statement
Claire has created work in response to numerous commission briefs and residencies which has informed her practice through dialogue with members of the public, project directors, curators and various funding bodies. This multiplicity of contexts has meant that collaboration and the exchange of ideas have become innate in her practice.
Her practice grows from the interconnection between place and the way people are connected to their surrounding environment, predominantly producing site conditional work. Since 2004 Claire has worked extensively with communities affected by environmental and economic change, often employing a working method that touches people’s everyday lives, asking them to record their individual thoughts and experiences and then using the accumulated material to make a visual intervention about their understanding of place.
For example during the building of the Weymouth Relief Road in preparation for the 2012 Olympics, Claire collected the thoughts and feelings of those living in the area to challenge her preconceptions of a community linked and simultaneously divided through the construction of a new road. After a period of consultation with Littlemoor community members, road builders/engineers and Dorset County Councillors Claire developed an interactive artwork called 'Littlemoor Wishes'. The work consisted of printed instruction, tie clips and three laser cut neoprene tags contained in a small transparent clip-seal bag that was individually posted to every 2400 Littlemoor households. A pen was also provided for people to hand write their own wishes, desires, protests or hopes, with instructions to tie them onto the metal Herris fencing surrounding the Relief Road works. The response was such that soon huge clusters of brightly coloured tags were seen fluttering on the Herris fencing against a moving backdrop of road building.
Currently Claire is working with curator June Hill questioning ways that an investment of time and attention given to an abandoned sleeping bag may provide a potent gift of personalised expression. -
Artist's Statement
Claire has created work in response to numerous commission briefs and residencies which has informed her practice through dialogue with members of the public, project directors, curators and various funding bodies. This multiplicity of contexts has meant that collaboration and the exchange of ideas have become innate in her practice.
Her practice grows from the interconnection between place and the way people are connected to their surrounding environment, predominantly producing site conditional work. Since 2004 Claire has worked extensively with communities affected by environmental and economic change, often employing a working method that touches people’s everyday lives, asking them to record their individual thoughts and experiences and then using the accumulated material to make a visual intervention about their understanding of place.
For example during the building of the Weymouth Relief Road in preparation for the 2012 Olympics, Claire collected the thoughts and feelings of those living in the area to challenge her preconceptions of a community linked and simultaneously divided through the construction of a new road. After a period of consultation with Littlemoor community members, road builders/engineers and Dorset County Councillors Claire developed an interactive artwork called 'Littlemoor Wishes'. The work consisted of printed instruction, tie clips and three laser cut neoprene tags contained in a small transparent clip-seal bag that was individually posted to every 2400 Littlemoor households. A pen was also provided for people to hand write their own wishes, desires, protests or hopes, with instructions to tie them onto the metal Herris fencing surrounding the Relief Road works. The response was such that soon huge clusters of brightly coloured tags were seen fluttering on the Herris fencing against a moving backdrop of road building.
Currently Claire is working with curator June Hill questioning ways that an investment of time and attention given to an abandoned sleeping bag may provide a potent gift of personalised expression. -
Artist's Statement
Claire has created work in response to numerous commission briefs and residencies which has informed her practice through dialogue with members of the public, project directors, curators and various funding bodies. This multiplicity of contexts has meant that collaboration and the exchange of ideas have become innate in her practice.
Her practice grows from the interconnection between place and the way people are connected to their surrounding environment, predominantly producing site conditional work. Since 2004 Claire has worked extensively with communities affected by environmental and economic change, often employing a working method that touches people’s everyday lives, asking them to record their individual thoughts and experiences and then using the accumulated material to make a visual intervention about their understanding of place.
For example during the building of the Weymouth Relief Road in preparation for the 2012 Olympics, Claire collected the thoughts and feelings of those living in the area to challenge her preconceptions of a community linked and simultaneously divided through the construction of a new road. After a period of consultation with Littlemoor community members, road builders/engineers and Dorset County Councillors Claire developed an interactive artwork called 'Littlemoor Wishes'. The work consisted of printed instruction, tie clips and three laser cut neoprene tags contained in a small transparent clip-seal bag that was individually posted to every 2400 Littlemoor households. A pen was also provided for people to hand write their own wishes, desires, protests or hopes, with instructions to tie them onto the metal Herris fencing surrounding the Relief Road works. The response was such that soon huge clusters of brightly coloured tags were seen fluttering on the Herris fencing against a moving backdrop of road building.
Currently Claire is working with curator June Hill questioning ways that an investment of time and attention given to an abandoned sleeping bag may provide a potent gift of personalised expression.
Contact Details:
c.l.barber@hud.ac.uk
