In Process is a series of studio visits with artists, makers, dancers, musicians, and other creatives.
Clare Burnett is a London-based artist who grew up in Belgium and France.
She has completed site-specific installations in spaces such as Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation, Brompton and Norwood Cemeteries and Bishopsgate Square. She has shown outdoor sculpture at Meadow Arts, Cheeseburn, Hannah Peschar, and Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer. Solo exhibitions include Leighton House Museum, William Benington Gallery and the University of Leeds and she has shown at the Venice Biennale, the Royal Academy, the National Gallery, the Jerwood Space, the RIBA and the Royal Society of Sculptors. This year she will make work for a sculpture park in China and on a residency in Mexico. She has been elected for a second term as President of the Royal Society of Sculptors.
These images were shot at Clare’s studio in West London.
Interview:
How would you describe your practice in a sentence? What excites you at the moment?
I make abstract, coloured sculptures using lots of different materials and processes - they’re often arranged in groups to create interactions within the space and beyond. At the moment I’m very excited about scrap yards - what you find there, how they link to the global economy and how things change value when they are sold simply as a material. This month, I’m making work with an old immersion heater and some yacht steering wheels.
What unusual habit or absurd thing do you love? This could be a studio ritual or something in your wider life…
My new habit is swimming in the Serpentine in Hyde Park in the morning and I managed to swim through the winter last year. I swim a slow breaststroke so I can look at everything going on and let my head clear. It’s a great way to start the day and the tiny, mixed changing room feels like a daily party with cups of tea and cakes people bring.
How did you realise that you wanted to be an artist? What formative experiences shaped your decision?
I realised it was the thing that I should be doing when I was studying A-level but went on a rather circuitous route before I finally committed to it. I studied architecture first then worked in healthcare communications for a few years. I worked on the government HIV/AIDS campaign and that environment, working closely with people with the illness when there was no cure, focussed my mind on what I should really be doing.
Who are your art icons and why? Who or what is the biggest non-art influence on your work?
A big early influence for me was watching Playschool and looking through a window into factories at how things were made. In terms of artists, I have always loved Picasso’s approach to art and the lack of boundaries in his work. I was taught a very Western canon but now I love the opening up of art histories and in particular, I look at South American artists such as Francis Alys and Helio Oiticica. I really admire Phyllida Barlow and Carol Bove for the way they tackle contemporary materials head-on.
I’m influenced every day by living in London - by a colour in the street, a conversation with someone from the other side of the world, a new piece of technology or a piece of history. It ’s a constant source of inspiration.
Are there any quotes that you think of often or live your life by? Or, what is a great piece of advice that helped you in your life or art-making?
I do try - and fail - to live by the phrase ‘less is more’, and certainly when I’m making work I try and take everything unnecessary away. One of my oldest and best friends became a Carmelite nun. They are a silent order with a focus on love and, although not tempting as a lifestyle or faith, it was very impressive to see. There’s also a quote that I have always thought was by Picasso but can never find - it says that you should plant the seed of an idea in a work then not worry about it again, as it will always be there. This is at the core of how I approach my work. I bring into my studio objects, issues and ideas that I am inspired by. My studio is like a laboratory and when I am working at my best, I manage to put aside the ideas and everything in my head and let the materials and processes, the colours and forms take over, before thinking again about them critically in relation to where and how they will be placed.
What is the book (or books) that you have gifted the most and why? Or what are the 1-3 books that have greatly influenced your life?
The book that saved my sanity is ‘How to Solve your Child’s Sleep Problems’ by Richard Ferber; the book I have loved reading more than any other, entering an epic story of family and friendships, was The Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth; my recent favourite book is ‘The Information Capital’ by James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti - data and infographics about London. We are told that data is power and this book confirms it through a benign-looking set of beautiful images.
What are you learning at the moment?
I’ve been learning Chinese with an audiobook and a few apps. I’m been working on a commission for a city in China and have spent much of this month there. I’ve loved learning a language again, although to be honest, I’m at a very basic level and can only understand the odd word.
What made you choose the materials and techniques that you use? How have they changed over time?
I’m a bit obsessed with materials and processes, forever scouring the internet for new ideas and techniques I can try, and far more interested in tools than anything else. I started as a painter and mixed my paints from pigments, which I still use as a material. Gradually I’ve expanded the range of what I do so I am rather a jack of all trades. There are some things I feel completely confident in such as painting and welding, and others where, a bit like a GP, I know enough to know I know too little. In terms of materials, because my inspiration comes from what is around me these range from plastic pots to bronze; from found machinery parts to polished steel rods. At the moment I am interested in what is discarded and how these link to the global economy and consumerism, so I’ve been collecting from markets, streets and scrapyards and combining these with raw materials.
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a ‘favourite failure’?
There are different levels of failure - from the more public when you feel your work wasn’t quite as good as it should be, to the daily trial and error of studio practice. A few times in my working life I’ve gone through periods of having no idea what I’m doing at all. Each time this took me to a point of having nothing to lose and that was extremely freeing and led to jumps forward. But they are horrible and I don’t want to live through another one if I can help it.
What do you do when you are feeling uninspired or overwhelmed?
The more overwhelmed or uninspired I get the more I end up in my head, so the most important thing for me is to get into the studio and make something - either remake something I made before so I get back into the questions I was asking at the time, or learn a new process, or just do a banal task like sanding or polishing. The worst thing I can do is to not go to the studio but that instead I’ll think and plan. Although this never works, it’s very tempting to sit around in cafes with my laptop and a piece of paper.
What advice—big or small—would you give to an artist or creative, just beginning on their journey? What advice should they ignore?
The first is that a creative life is long and not to worry if other bits of life get in the way sometimes. For me, it’s been important to seek out the people I trust and to work out which voices are critically helpful and which are harmful. I really value artist friends who have seen my work over a long period of time and understand where it is coming from and how it relates to the rest of my life.
What advice do you think your future self—ten years older and wiser—would give you, looking back at where you are now?
I think I should take more time to enjoy the things that go well as a balance to the time I spend being critical about my work and always thinking about how it could be better.
Find out more about Clare Burnett here:
