I was born in London in 1950. I have always drawn and painted and this led to me studying Art and Education at Goldsmith's College in London, specialising in screen printing. After graduating in 1972 with a BEd, I started teaching. However, it was difficult to develop my printing skills due to lack of time and work space, because of this I started looking for a different medium to work in.
Working with textiles had a sort of inevitability about it. Gran taught me to embroider and knit. Grandad had a good eye and feel for fabrics (having worked for Jaegers). I learnt the basics of dress making at school and made my own clothes. When Jan Beany appeared on BBC Pebble Mill, demonstrating innovative ideas with fabric and stitch, she sowed some seeds of inspiration and I started to find out more about textiles.
In 1986, we moved to Newmarket, Suffolk and I at last had a room to work in. My children were now at school and although I was teaching part time, I had time to concentrate more on developing my skills with textiles. During this time I attended various day schools and workshops and also taught myself a variety of techniques. In 2003 I embarked on the City and Guilds Level 2 Silk Painting Course, to build up a portfolio, to ensure that I knew how to carry out techniques correctly and with a view to doing some teaching.
In summer 2004 I stopped teaching. This allowed me to experiment more using printing techniques on silk and see what I could achieve. I didn't want to reach 70 and look back and say "what if". Inspiration for my work comes from a variety of sources but mainly landscapes and architecture. If I don’t have time to draw I capture the images on camera to work from later.
I exhibit my work locally. I currently have cards and pictures at Byard Art in Cambridge and a selection of work at Cavern 4 in Bury St Edmunds. For the past few years I have been a member of Suffolk Open Studios.
Working with textiles had a sort of inevitability about it. Gran taught me to embroider and knit. Grandad had a good eye and feel for fabrics (having worked for Jaegers). I learnt the basics of dress making at school and made my own clothes. When Jan Beany appeared on BBC Pebble Mill, demonstrating innovative ideas with fabric and stitch, she sowed some seeds of inspiration and I started to find out more about textiles.
In 1986, we moved to Newmarket, Suffolk and I at last had a room to work in. My children were now at school and although I was teaching part time, I had time to concentrate more on developing my skills with textiles. During this time I attended various day schools and workshops and also taught myself a variety of techniques. In 2003 I embarked on the City and Guilds Level 2 Silk Painting Course, to build up a portfolio, to ensure that I knew how to carry out techniques correctly and with a view to doing some teaching.
In summer 2004 I stopped teaching. This allowed me to experiment more using printing techniques on silk and see what I could achieve. I didn't want to reach 70 and look back and say "what if". Inspiration for my work comes from a variety of sources but mainly landscapes and architecture. If I don’t have time to draw I capture the images on camera to work from later.
I exhibit my work locally. I currently have cards and pictures at Byard Art in Cambridge and a selection of work at Cavern 4 in Bury St Edmunds. For the past few years I have been a member of Suffolk Open Studios.
All images and text are Copyright © of Claire Turner unless otherwise stated. If you wish to use images for any purpose other than personal interest, please contact Claire.
Site designed by Sarah Turner.
Site designed by Sarah Turner.
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