Clare Iles

Clare Iles builds sculpture by gathering materials, balancing the outside and the inside through research and response, and exploring the feeling of being an outsider. She works from real things, making sculpture out of found furniture, bringing those objects together and apart again. The work draws on childhood memories of playing house with whatever came to hand, making a place to be on her own terms and by her own rules. The results are tactile, spontaneous and intuitive. Anthropomorphism, fables, colour, re-use, deconstruction and assemblage run through it, in wood, in two-dimensional reliefs, in sculpture and in installation.

Once more nomadic and outward looking, she has worked in extreme environments to challenge values and reflect on the true self. Travel and research continue to shape the work, and she has undertaken extensive artist funded travel: Western India in 2005 and Jerusalem in 2010, both supported by Arts Council East, and artist travels to Greece in 1999, Australia in 2000, the Dominican Republic in 2001, Western India in 2006, Northern India in 2007 and Jerusalem in 2009 and 2010.

Iles holds an MA in Fine Art from Norwich School of Art and a first class BA (Hons) in Fine Art. She has taught Fine Art on the BA degree course and on the Art and Design diplomas at Colchester School of Art, and has led workshops and projects for all age groups in galleries, schools and housing associations. Her work has been shown across the UK and Europe, from an international group exhibition through to artist residencies, projects and solo shows. She works from Studio 7 at Cuckoo Farm Studios in Colchester.