Claire NELSON

The Artist

The feel of clay, the smell of resin and the sight of naked models pervaded Claire Nelson’s childhood as her mother lived her passion as a professional sculptor. A keen student, she learned the skills of sculpting alongside her mother.

Reaching adolescence the artist decided to opt for something “safer” and less messy than a career in art and opted for Academia, graduating from Manchester College of Higher Education with a Bachelor of Arts in languages, but her mother had left an indelible mark…

During rich and varied career in France, UK and the Caribbean, the artist took up sculpture again then trained at the London Academy of Art, delighted to be back in touch with sculpture.

Claire Nelson is a figurative portrait sculptor specialising in children’s portraits. She loves people and the life they represent; human beings are an eternal source of fascination to her. She especially enjoys the challenge sculpting children, capturing both a likeness and the spirit and personality of the subject.

The artist also taught figurative and portrait sculpture at Palazzo Venezia in Rome and ran weekend workshops on sculpture, life modelling, mold-making and casting.

The artist’s work reflects her personality: vibrant, energetic, solid, sensitive, intuitive, inbued with a vital energy. The creative act enables her to tap into a great source of personal energy and connect with herself and her subject.

Based in Woking Surrey, she travels all over the world for her portrait commissions. The artist has had various exhibitions in Paris, Italy (Rome, Milan, Turin, Florence, Bologna), China (Beijing), USA since 1997.