Claire McArdle’s interest in art and mythology began as a child. She grew up in the Washington DC area where she began studying art in high school. Her regular trips to the National museums at a young age exposed her to a wide variety of sculpture from around the world. Drawn to the art and artifacts from prehistoric and the ancient world, she recognized the cross-cultural similarities abound in the archetypes and symbolism in art binding us together as one species, with common ancestors. The symbolism created by artists, therefore, connects us through the arts. McArdle works to explore the experiences of human emotion, our connection to the land, animals and the divine. The female torso, a common theme, sculpted in marble, terra cotta and bronze represents the beauty of the feminine archetype and McArdle’s sculptures synthesize elements of traditional classical sculpture with aesthetic qualities found in ancient sculpture, prehistoric art and the European modern masters. She was included in an exhibit in 2017 Rodin and the Contemporary Figurative Tradition, curated by Joseph Bercherer at the Frederik Mejer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI.
McArdle is an internationally renown sculptor. After earning her Bachelor of fine arts at Virginia Commonwealth University, she moved to Carrara, Italy in 1988 to study with the master carvers and learned centuries – old production techniques. She maintains a studio in Colorado, where she lives with her husband on their ranch on the front range of the Rocky Mountains, and travels to Italy where she sources the marble and clay used in her sculptures.
Her works are in private and public collections throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. McArdle’s commissions for public, educational, and religious institutions include monumental works for Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL, Marian House, Baltimore, MD, The Holton-Arms School, Bethesda, MD, St. Bede, Williamsburg, VA, Holy Trinity Church, Washington, DC, Holy Redeemer College, Washington, DC as well as many private commissions.
She is represented by Ellsworth Gallery, Santa Fe, Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD, Artist Proof Gallery, Washington, DC, Filsinger Gallery, Palm Desert, CA and Gardner Colby Gallery, Naples, FL.
She will be having a solo exhibition in Georgetown at the Artist Proof Gallery this spring, with new marble work featuring a new technique using gold leaf on her sculptures. Opening April 12, 2018
Email the Artist: claire@cmsculpture.com
