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Claire Preen
Claire Preen was born in London and moved to NZ to work in book publishing. After many years spent as an editor and designer, Claire felt she needed to do something more creative and ‘hands on’.
Claire enrolled into the NZ Diploma in Arts and Design (Ceramics) where she found her passion for sculpture, specifically figurative and surrealist.
Claire’s work has since been selected for several national exhibitions, including winning the Premier Award at the Quarry Arts Competition 2023.
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Artworks by Claire Preen
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The creep-along, the sitter-still
See Artwork »The creep-along, the sitter-still… words from a thirteenth century Shropshire poem describing a hunter’s impression of the hare and how it moves. These hares are brothers, working together, alike but with different tasks. Made from iron-based stoneware, they are mid-fired with an ash glaze.
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The meat raffle
See Artwork »On my OE from London in the late 1980s, my friend and I worked in Kerikeri picking kiwifruit for $40 per day.
We quickly became immersed in the local culture where people’s fathers (all farmers it seemed) wore black singlets, shouted at the TV when the All Blacks played, and enjoyed the meat raffle.
It was the best time. ‘The Meat Raffle’ is sculpted in stoneware, mid-fired with oxide, acrylic and glaze.
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Precipitous
See Artwork »The little pink elephant teeters cheerfully upon a precipice, his situation a metaphor for the plight of elephants on a larger scale; their wellbeing and habitat being under threat from human expansion, interference and cruelty. ‘Precipitous’ is sculpted from stoneware clay, mid-fired with acrylic and wax surface treatments .
