Claire Primrose: Artist Statement & Bio

When we think of a place, we imagine it not in its entirety, but rather as integral parts; feelings and images pieced together to create the impression of a whole.

In Primrose’s practice, she mirrors this concept, the serendipitous recreation and abstraction of these views encourage our eye to piece together the changing actions of material, much like Primrose herself does so in her studio - so that we too, may feel a sense of place. She pieces together the remnants of these places; a collection of memories, samples and studies which are then reworked into the applique of paint. Through a process of layering; she scratches, sprays and applies a mixture of mediums in a way that not only conjures up feelings of awe and wonder felt only by arriving at a greatly-anticipated scenic view, but does so in a way that allows the colours, layers and gestural mark-making to actively illustrate the scene before you.

Claire Primrose is a painter who works primarily with mixed media. Primrose graduated with a BA in Visual Arts (majoring in printmaking) at ANU, Canberra, in 1997. Based in Queanbeyan, she has also completed a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Art Education and has taught both Visual Art and Dance at various high schools in Canberra for ten years. She has been represented by Stanley Street Gallery since 2015.

Primrose has participated in various group and solo exhibitions both locally and nationally; including being selected for DIRECTION NOW> national touring exhibition with 10 other artists who also focus on abstraction. She was the winner of the 2017 Waverley Art Prize – Drawing. Most recently she has been selected as a finalist in the 2019 Wyndham Art Prize, SA; the 2019 Hunters Hill Art exhibition and the 2019 Highly Commended and People’s Choice Winner in the Wingecarribee Landscape Prize, Bowral.  She has also been selected as a finalist in the Paddington Art Prize, The Fleurieu Biennale, The Kedumba Drawing Award, The Tattersall’s Club Landscape Prize, The Hawkesbury Art Prize, Morton Bay Art Prize, the Norville Art Prize, the Whyalla Art prize and most recently, the Paul Guest Drawing Award.

Claire was awarded winner of the Queanbeyan City Council Regional Art Prize in both 2009 and 2015, the Goulburn Regional Art Award in 2016 as well as the Capital Chemist Art Award Tuggeranong in 2015. She has also been awarded a Highly Commended in the Queanbeyan City Council Art Award in 2010 and the Hawkesbury Art Prize in 2012.

Claire Primrose: CV January, 2020 Download