Claire Desjardins is an abstract painter who comes from a long line of artists and grew up in Montreal, Canada. She worked for many years as a graphic designer and was ensconced in a life of technology and marketing. In 2011, she gave up a regular pay cheque to pursue her love of painting full time. She now has her studio in the Laurentians, (one hour north of Montreal) and is represented by galleries in Canada and the States. Claire also sells art on her web site.
Claire teaches painting workshops in both Canada and in the US, and in November 2016, she was one of three winners of the ArtFinder Liquitex Muted competition. She has received grants to attend artist residencies at the Vermont Studio Center in 2011 and 2013, and the Da Wang Culture Highland artist residency in southeastern China, in 2013. She created her own self-directed artist residency in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (Dec. 2015-Jan. 2016), where she spent a month.
Claire has been asked to judge various art competitions, and has been interviewed by a number of art magazines, on radio, TV, print and online. She has appeared on a number of blogs, including Design for Mankind, Moco Loco, Design Milk and Saatchi Art’s online magazine.
Microsoft Canada recently selected Claire to be one of the six Canadian artists who are collaborating with the tech giant and GelaSkins, to create digitally drawn skins for the launch of Microsoft's line of high end devices, the Microsoft Surface. Her colourful designs are reproduced onto merchandise for Toronto-based fashion house, Nuvango, and on other tech accessories through GelaSkins. Her designs are expected to sell nationally, in Microsoft Stores and Best Buy stores, among other retail locations. U.S. retail chain, Urban Outfitters, sells her original artwork under their Anthropologie banner, online as well as in their New York, Chicago, and Montreal stores. They reproduce her artwork on merchandise, such as bags, rugs, bedding, accessories and apparel, and sell it under the Claire Desjardins signature label. Claire’s work has also appeared in major motion pictures as well as popular television shows.
Her work can be found in both private and corporate collections around the world.
Claire Desjardins
“All of my work is an attempt to decipher the chatter in my head, to put forward a less awkward side of myself, to navigate through my everyday chaos towards calm.
My paintings are personal. The outside world is referenced quite indirectly through the filter of my emotions. Through my work, I find myself expressing sentiments or reactions of which I am consciously unaware.”