Clare Murray Adams

All my life I have had a great interest in sewing and fibers. As a child I was a collector of things and a saver of objects I deemed precious whether they really were or not. Until recently I was a lifetime resident of Canton, Ohio. In the summer of 2005 I married and moved to Southington, Ohio where I have a home and a studio. In this space I have more room to save and collect “things” which I then use in my found object constructions.

My artwork has had a varied existence. I spent 20 years making art quilts, whose surfaces gradually began to become more dimensional as I incorporated found objects and family ephemera into them. Early work referenced architecture with doors and windows suspended in unreal spaces. Eventually I began to build and make constructions out of the real architectural findings that I collect or rescue from trash bins and flea markets. Still wanting to achieve a textural surface I began to work with encaustic paint which allowed me to add my own textures to the found objects. All of this I view as a kind of collage or assemblage. My work is very additive in nature.

I am Associate Professor of Art and Chair of the Visual Art Department at Malone College. I received a BFA from Kent State University and an MFA from Vermont College. Over the past 25 years my artwork has been exhibited regionally and nationally in fiber and mixed media exhibits where I have often taken home honors or awards. During the past two years I have been fortunate to have had 5 One-Person Exhibits in Ohio, Indiana, New York and California.

Prior to teaching at Malone College, I spent five years as a first grade teacher and 5 years teaching art in a parochial school. My interest in painting and surface design along with my sewing and sculptural work led me to seek a Master’s of Fine Art degree from Vermont College in 2001.

Ideas of family, feminist concerns, elements of time, and universal emotional issues are continual themes for exploration. Earlier work was strongly rooted in quiltmaking and surface design. More recent work relies on the processes involved in making 3D constructions, in collage and in encaustic painting or working with wax. My long interest and attraction to fibers is still evident in my work, if not in process, then certainly in concept.

Selected Art Pieces