bio/statement

[bio]

Claire Gunville (b. Seattle, Washington) is a visual artist, printmaker, and educator based in Portland, Oregon. By employing used and outdated electronic items, her work ruminates on the ways in which humans have impacted our global ecology through technological advancements. Her work has been shown at Blackfish Gallery, MRKT Gallery, and Carnation Contemporary. She was awarded a Make|Learn|Build grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council in 2021, and an artist residency at Caldera Arts. She received her BFA in Printmaking from Pacific Northwest College of Art.

 

[statement]

Technological obsolescence and its resulting effects on the environment are at the forefront of Claire Gunville’s studio practice. As a young millennial, she is well aware of issues surrounding over-extraction of natural resources alongside the growth of the internet age. Our technological advancements not only affect us sociologically, but ecologically as well. Her works are inspired by and made from “dead” electronic items. Planned obsolescence creates a vast amount of waste, and it is very difficult to throw away or recycle electronic items once they go defunct. Gunville’s works try to find a new use for these items, using them to mirror organic flora and fauna. By using them to represent the natural world, we can question what is really natural in our human-made, ever-evolving landscape. Cables and electronics are so ingrained into our society now, are they really so different from our natural world? Or are they just a new part of it?

 

 

 

view my evolving bibliography here.