Hello.
Claire Knill is a Brighton based artist working across various disciplines including sculpture, textiles and digital collage. Central themes in her work explore the uplifting power of movement and colour and how it can influence our mood and emotions. Claires style is characterised by intriguing colour combinations, geometric forms and a joyful refined aesthetic
The idea that you can create something new simply by picking up tools and materials is a notion that permeates my earliest memories and is still very much at the heart of what I enjoy now.
It has come to be a feeling of freedom and empowerment.
Recollections of playing while my parents made repairs to the very old cottage we lived in as a child, banging nails into wood, handmade clothes, arts and crafts, hands in soil.
There was always an adventure in the trial and error of bringing something into being.
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So, here in my studio on the South Coast I often work intuitively on new ideas; playing with materials and working it out as I go along. I like the physicality of making. The movement round my studio, the texture of materials, the ache in my hands at the end of the day that tells me I have put them to good use.
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In the making of my work I hope to explore and inspire the feeling of connection. Connection to our own needs and feelings, the connection we have with others, our communities and our environment.
I am intrigued by shape, form and colour and find inspiration in all sorts of places. My eye is always drawn by geometric forms, lines and curves and I like playing with scale. Beautiful shapes and joyful colours have lead me on this journey so far, it has evolved to encompass stillness and reflection as much as dance and expression.
One of my favourite artists is Cesar Manrique who was a ground-breaking artist, activist and conservationist from Lanzarote. He created stunning architectural living and social spaces and the island is home to many of his kinetic sculptures, which is also an influence on my work. I find the dimensions of time and movement in these sculptures endlessly fascinating. A mobile can never be viewed in the same way twice.
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