Accompanied with Textiles by Claire Benn

26th January - 17th March 2023

Line drawings are the basis for her work in clay – delicately coil-built constructions in clay can be seen as three-dimensional drawings. The fragile and vulnerable are juxtaposed with robust and strong shapes. The familiar utilitarian forms of boxes and cylinders act as a canvas for her subtle surface textures.
 
This new body of work, shown for the first time at Flow Gallery, has a newly expanded, "earthy" colour palette, together with the restrained monochrome colours of terracotta, white and black. 

“THE CONTAINER CAN HIDE, PRESERVE OR PROTECT. IT IS THE INTRINSIC MEANING OF ITS FUNCTION THAT INTERESTS ME, NOT ITS PRACTICAL PURPOSE.”

— Maria Kristofersson

British Textile Artist Claire Benn lives and works in a converted barn in Surrey. Inspired by remote and wild landscapes. 

“ A piece of cloth (usually linen or hemp) is always my starting point. Earth pigments provide the colour and connect me back to the land. Soya milk binds pigment to cloth and enables me to communicate the visual details found within the landscape. Thread is the final addition, adding quiet accents and a literal surface texture that fingertips can feel. These are my quiet materials, used to make art that evokes solitude, stillness and silence. ”

— Claire Benn