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. 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.

After earning a Bachelor in Fine Arts she moved to Italy in 1988 to work with the master carvers in Carrara. She continues to travel to Italy to quarry and rough out her works in marble and travertine. She maintains her studio in Colorado where she lives with her husband on their ranch on the front range of the Rocky Mountains.

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

John Schweitzer, Austin, TX

PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS

"Mysterium", Darnell Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM, 2011-2012

"Preludes", International Visions - The Gallery, Washington, DC, 2011

"Fragments", Darnell Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM, July 2010

"Touching the Earth: Initiates and Muses", Darnell Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM, 2009
with performance Word Dance Theatre

"Claire McArdle sculpture/Frank Sampson painting" Canyon Gallery, Boulder, CO 2009

"Myth and Mystery", Darnell Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM, 2008

"Myth and Mystery: Sculpture and Drawings", Old Firehouse Art Center, Longmont, CO, 2008

"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

2012

AIR, Cheney Gallery, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis, MD

Coors Western Art Exhibit, 106th National Western Stock Show, Denver, CO

2011

Spring Exhibition, Massoni Art Chestertown, MD

AIR Cheney Gallery, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis, MD

Gallery Artists, Martin Gallery, Charleston, SC

Gallery Artists, Thomas Deans Fine Art, Atlanta, GA

2010

FALL INTO SUMMER, Carla Massoin Gallery, Chestertown, MD Aug-Sept 2010

“Into the Light”, Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD, April 2010

Gallery Artists group show, International Visions, Washington, DC October 2010

Gallery Artist, Thomas Deans Fine Art, Atlanta, GA

2009

Gallery Artists, Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, Telluride, CO

Gallery Artists, International Visions-The Gallery, Washington, DC

2008

“24/7 The Creative Challenge”, Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD

Gallery Artists, Darnell Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

Gallery Artists, Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, Telluride, CO

Gallery Artists, International Visions-The Gallery, Washington, DC

Sculpture on the Blue, Breckenridge, CO

Gallery Artists, Martin Gallery, Charleston, SC

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

"Dancing with the Muses" with Word Dance Theatre, Body, Santa Fe, NM, 2010

"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

Business and Professional Women's Council for the National Museum of Women in the Arts

Washington Sculptors Group

International Sculpture Center

back to top