Claire Pringle Artist
My most recent body of work focuses on a particular time and place; Durham coal mining communities at the beginning of the early 20th century. The key role of pit women is explored through their domestic handicraft skills of knitting and crochet. I produce fossilised forms, both in bone china and within hand-made paper to demonstrate the fact that this particular way of community life no longer exists. Processes of making are very important to me as a maker/artist and I am intrigued by patterns of construction. As such, traces of making and of the maker, as well as processes of making inform my practice.
I describe myself as a mixed media artist, since the subject of my work tends to dictate it's final form. Whilst I like to engage directly with materials, I enjoy working with ceramics and textiles as well as drawing and oil paints. I have recently gained an MA in Fine Art at the University of Hertfordshire. I am currently exhibiting work at the Eastern Approaches exhibition 2014 at the University of Hertfordshire gallery at the Museum of St Albans and have exhibited at the campus gallery of the University of Hertfordshire. I am very interested in domestic handicrafts handed down through generations of families, particularly where there is a connection to industry. I currently live and work in St Albans.