Clare Rennie

I use mixed media techniques to evoke a memory of time and place in my work. I am primarily influenced by architectural structures and the atmosphere surrounding them. The faded grandeur of the peeling facades of Venetian palaces, revealing their echoing stories layer by layer, a glimpse into another life and time. Ornate architectural details from Classical, Byzantine and Gothic-Renaissance styles sit alongside the more natural forms of shells, plants and birds. Fragments from handwritten letters, poetry and vintage wallpaper are incorporated into the collaged backgrounds of my paintings, creating surface textures which suggest the patina of age and which hint at the ethereal.

Clare graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in 1996 and worked as a designer and maker for a number of years, both freelance and for larger design companies. Throughout this time she continued to exhibit the prints and collages she began as part of her degree, and since 2001 she has combined a career in art education with the development of her own paintings. Over the last 15 years she has exhibited regularly throughout the UK, both in smaller galleries and in larger exhibitions including the Paisley Art Institute, The Royal Glasgow Institute and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour. She has been awarded the ArtHire Award at the Scottish Drawing Competition, the Willa Revie Award and the Patron's Award at the MacLaurin Gallery in Ayr and the Strathearn Gallery Prize.