Claire McArdle is an internationally recognized sculptor. She grew up in the Washington DC metro 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 range of sculpture from around the world. She was particularly inspired by sculpture of the European modern masters, Old Europe and Africa. After earning a Bachelor in Fine Arts she moved to Italy in 1988 for several years to work with the master carvers in Carrara and continues to travel to Italian quarries to rough out her travertine and marble work.
Currently she works between studios on the eastern shore of Maryland and her ranch on the front range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Her style has been influenced by classical figures and the soul that speaks within tribal art, but her figures emerge from her own personal mythology and archetypes. Her energy for exploring these mysteries and an insatiable passion for working stone, clay, and bronze, combine to create forms with harmonious balance and an ethereal quality.
EDUCATION
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, BFA 1981
PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL
Tom and Kitty Stoner
Mike and Patty Batza
John and Mary Lou Barter
St. Bede Church, Williamsburg, VA
Marian House, Baltimore, MD
Holton Arms School, Bethesda, MD
Holy Trinity Church, Washington, DC
The Potomac Group, Washington, DC
Mine City, Mine, Japan
Applied Planning Int’l, Annapolis, MD
Yashiro City, "Stellar Park", Yashiro, Japan
RB Properies Inc., Washington, DC
The Lombardy Hotel, Washington, DC
Huneke & Associates, Seattle, WA
Fortune Design, Seattle, WA
A.G. Edwards, Edmonds, WA
Holy Redeemer College, Washington, DC
Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis, MD
PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS
"Spirits Rising: An Evening of Dance / Sculpture / Poetry"
Word Dance Theater choreography by Ruth St. Denis, Isadora Duncan, Cynthia Word, Sculpture by ClaireMcArdle, poetry by Sappho and Dance with Ingrid Zimmer, Historic Dumbarton Church, Washington, DC, October 20, 2007
“Featured Sculpture”, Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME 2007
“The Horse”, International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC 2006
“Passages”, Carla Massoni Gallery, 2004
“New Work: Dancers and Ancient Memories” Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD, 2003
"Fire and Earth", International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC, 2000
Keith Lipert Gallery, Washington, DC, 1997
Ira Pinto Gallery, Annapolis, MD, 1997
Claire McArdle Gallery, Galleries 1054, Washington, DC, 1995
West Annapolis Gallery, Annapolis, MD, 1995
Claire McArdle Gallery, Galleries 1054, Washington, DC, 1994
Claire McArdle Gallery, Galleries 1054, Washington, DC, 1993
Claire McArdle Gallery, Galleries 1054, Washington, DC, 1992
Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC, 1992
Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC, 1991
Red Hook Ale Corporation, Seattle, WA, 1991
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2007
“Ten”, International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC
"Dwell", Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD
"Lifelines: Vessels", Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD
“Sculpture on the Blue”, Public Art, Breckenridge, CO
Gallery Artists, Martin Gallery, Charleston, SC
Gallery Artists, Telluride Gallery of Art, Telluride, CO
2006
Gallery Artists, Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, Telluride, CO
“Sculpture on the Blue” Public Art, Breckenridge, CO Best in Show Award
“Sequences and Consequences”, Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD
“Hermandades Escultoricas” Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Atenea de Yucatan, Merida, Mexico
Gallery Artists, Martin Gallery, Charleston, SC
Gallery Artists, Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME
2005
“Particles and Passions: The Art of Clay”, Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD
“Other Dimensions”, Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD
Gallery Artists, Martin Gallery, Charleston, SC
Gallery Artists, Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME
2004
“Faces and Figures”, International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC
Gallery Artists, Martin Gallery, Charleston, SC
Gallery Artists, Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME
2003
“Art and Dance”, International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC
Gallery Artists, Martin Gallery, Charleston, SC
Gallery Artists, Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME
Gallery Artists, Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD
Lucia Douglas Gallery, Bellingham, WA
2001
“10 th Anniversary”, Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD
"Collection 2001", International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC
Gallery Artists, Martin Gallery, Charleston, SC
Gallery Artists, Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME
2000
"Landscapes 2000", Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD
Gallery Artists, Martin Gallery, Charleston, SC
Gallery Artists, Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME
1999
" Ireland in Washington, 7 Artists", International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC
Gallery Artists, Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD
Gallery Artists, Martin Gallery, Charleston, SC
Gallery Artists’ Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME
1998
Gallery Artists, International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC
Gallery Artists, Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME
Galerie fur Gegenwartskunst, Bonstetten , Switzerland
1997
Gallery Artists, Yellow Dog Gallery, Charleston, SC
Gallery Artists, Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME
"Sculptors' Plans, Drawings, Maquettes, 505 Gallery, Washington, DC
"Sculpture Now", Cade Gallery, Annapolis, MD
Wilhelmina’s Art Gallery, Seneca Falls, NY
"DC Unite Chicago ", Washington, DC
"Sculpture Now '98”, Washington Square, Washington, DC
Ira Pinto Gallery, Annapolis, MD
Gregory Gallery, New York, NY
1996
Mine Cultural Center, Mine, Japan
Gregory Gallery, New York, NY
Michele Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
The National Museum for Women in the Arts, Annual Auction, Washington, DC
1995-2005
1994
"International Women in Art", The World Bank, Washington, DC
"Across Borders", The Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC
1993
Capital Arts Spring Show, Washington, DC
1992
Gallery Mack, Seattle, WA
"The Gallery Garden ", Campbell & Ferrara , Alexandria , VA 1991
1990
Gardens of Art, Bellingham, WA
Washington Horticultural Society, NW Stone Sculptors, Seattle, WA
"Women Sculptors in Italy ", Livorno, Italy
'L Grup, La Galleria d'Arte Contemporania, Colonnata, Italy
LECTURES/VISITING ARTIST
"The Spirit Within" Academy of the Holy Cross, Kensington, MD, 2004
The National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, 2001
Holton-Arms School, "Persephone, Myth and Mystery", Bethesda, MD, 2000
Howard County Public Schools, Columbia, MD, 1997, 1996
"Four Women Sculptors", Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
"Inner City/Inner Child", Washington, DC, 1993-97
COMMISSIONS
Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, 2004, 2005
Saint Bede Church, Williamsburg, VA, 2003
Marian House, Baltimore, MD, 2002
The Holton-Arms School, Bethesda, MD, 2000
Holy Trinity Church, Washington, DC, 1999
Holy Redeemer College, Washington, DC 1997
Mine Japan, 1996
Stellar Park, 1993
SYMPOSIA
Mine City, Mine, Japan
Stellar Park, Yashiro, Japan
MEMBERSHIPS
Washington Sculptors Group
Women’s Committee-National Museum for Women in the Arts
International Sculpture Center
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