Claire Brewster

I met Claire at Origins craft fair in September and she was a very lovely lady. She uses discarded maps and atlases to create intricately cut out birds and flowers which are then displayed in box frames or pinned directly to the wall. The work is truly breathtaking and the simplicity of it only adds to its beauty , the shadows created by the work add another depth and really help to demonstrate just how delicate the cut outs are.I feel Claires use of colour is very powerful and she has an eye for placement of detail which is very clever.

www.clairebrewster.co.uk

I emailed some questions to Claire , this is her response;

Hi Cath

It was a pleasure, it was great to chat to so many really nice people. My
ego was well and truly massaged after the week at origin.

Here are my answers to your questions.

How do you fund your work ?

I have always funded my work myself through working doing mostly
administrative/Office management type work.

How much do you compromise on a commission ?

It depends on the commission, some demand more compromise than others, but I
always make sure I produce a piece of work that I might have produced
anyway, I would never do a subject or use imagery that I wouldn't use on a
personal project. Its always important to have the confidence that you know
best and not bend too much to the wishes of the client as you are the
creative person and they were inspired by your work. People will always
have an opinion, in the beginning its hard to trust your own abilities but
as time goes by it gets easier to get more confident.

How do you know what to charge for your work ?

I'm not sure anyone ever does, you just have to think of a figure and them
probably double it. Everyone has a different theory about pricing. In the
beginning its better to price a bit lower and start selling and then
increase your prices. Also looking around at what other people charge for
similar things is helpful. Origin is great for that as there are so many
different people in one spot.

How and where did you exhibit your work ?

I applied for lots of open application exhibitions, exhibited in some pubs
and took every opportunity large or small that came my way. A-N and Axis
are good for finding opportunities to apply for.

Do you make a full time living from your art?

I don't make a full time living, I work 3 days per week for an architects
practice. My plan is to give that up one day soon, just haven't reached
that day yet!

I hope that all helped.



Thanks a million Claire .