Clare Purser

Clare works predominantly in the medium of oil painting with mixed media on canvas, board and paper, using photos, notes and sketches for inspiration. She lives on Moreton Bay, Brisbane where she works from her home studio. Clare likes painting and drawing plain-air around where she lives on Brisbane’s Bayside. She is interested in creating paintings that are evocative and intuitive and express an emotive reaction to the landscape. “I like to follow the direction the painting takes, taking advantage of the pliable nature of oil paint and the many ways it can be manipulated.” Themes relating to the of the environment have become central to Clare’s work; “The degradation of our coastal environment has been an ongoing concern of my work. My practice is informed by the Bay and islands close to where I live on Moreton Bay near Brisbane.” Clare Purser was born in New Zealand in 1971 and her early years were spent in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Australia. In 1996 she completed an Honours degree in Visual Art from the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. In 2016 she was the recipient of the Brisbane Institute of Art’s Milburn Art Prize. In 1996 she was awarded The Tweed Valley Art Prize for Painting from the Tweed Valley Regional Gallery and in 2004 The Jack McClure Memorial Award in the North Shore Art Awards in Auckland. Most recently Clare has been included as a finalist in the Sunshine Coast Art Awards, Redland Art Awards and Moreton Bay Region Art Awards. In 2019 Clare was awarded a Commendation in the biennial Hawkesbury Art Prize.


Artworks