The Dunedin School of Arts grad, who’s lived in the Whakatipu for the past 12 years, is launching ‘Braided Strata’ at the Giraffe Art Gallery, which will be on display till December 18.
Claire, who’s based in her own studio in Fox’s Tce, will talk about her work during the opening.
She says the exhibition’s a "braiding together of layers of geology, sculpture, structure, art and wearability".
Using ancient materials such as argillite, pakohe, granite, quartz and other hard stone from the Southern coast, she makes jewellery that’s worn around the neck, but "departs from expected necklace and pendant structures".
The weight of the stones, and their balance against each other, holds the pieces in place on the wearer’s body.
Some of the stones have Permian zoophycos fossil traces, markings caused by worm-like organisms as they travel through layers of fine mud, braiding together layers of silt in their trails.
Claire says their patterns are concreted into the mudstone, but revealed in the present day by the forces of water and human creativity.
She’ll be in the gallery almost every day, from 9am to 5pm, throughout the exhibition, while her regular work — earrings, necklaces and rings — will also be on display in the gallery.
- ‘Braided Strata’ exhibition opening, tomorrow, 5pm to 8pm, Giraffe Art Gallery, 44 Buckingham St, Arrowtown
