Contemporary Art, Furniture & Craft Gallery · Licensed Café
Clare Trenchard writes:
“In August 2023 I started working on a new series of sculptures inspired by my Moroccan sketchbooks which contain drawings of people in markets, travellers, and nomads on the move. These large garden pieces are approx. 175cm tall. They are made in very specific but different coloured clays which are fired to a high temperature (1250c) which fully vitrifies the clay rendering it completely frostproof and therefore suitable for garden installation.
“Then in 2025 I began developing a new series of drawings that explore the themes found in my sculptural work — the rhythm of human movement through space. These works often originate from sketchbooks filled with observations made during travels. Using mixed media on paper, I build layers of line, paint, and collage to suggest presence and memory. The figures emerge and dissolve into the surface, their forms shaped as much by absence as by mark. These drawings are studies in structure and relationship — between people, between colour and tone, and between the seen and the implied.”
Clare Trenchard was born in Colchester, Essex after which the family moved several times before landing up in Dorset when she was 12. At 17 she moved to London and attended The Sir John Cass School of Art and then Chelsea School of Art. To fund her sculpture, while she got married and had two children, she ran a decorating company. In 1996 the family moved to West Dorset where Clare still lives and works. Her large studio allowed her to dive into making sculpture and her supportive husband gave her time away from childcare to focus on her art.
Clare’s first major exhibition was at Sladers Yard in 2010 and she has had a presence in the gallery ever since. She exhibited with Wills Art Warehouse and the Affordable Art Fairs for about 12 years, and currently and regularly with various galleries across the South of England, including Flying Colours Gallery in Chelsea, London and her own sculpture garden in the Marshwood Vale. Her sculptures and drawings can be found in collections in Australia, USA, Italy, Germany, France, as well as in private collections and public spaces around The British Isles.
Please contact us on 01308 459511 or email gallery@sladersyard.co.uk to enquire about any of her work.
