December 21st, 2024Artists of the Central Highlands
with Eve Lamb
Glenlyon’s Claire Clifton is a great example of how being told you’re no good at something may just lead you to become very good at it indeed. Claire’s passion for using creative art to express the inner self – particularly that which does not readily find expression any other way – has led her to produce powerful and award-winning abstract works, to find immense joy in her own life and recently, to establish a very special program that helps others de-stress and tap into their own inner creative spirit.
Eve: I hear you’re a member of the Daylesford Regional Arts Cooperative and part of a series of pop-up exhibitions at the Daylesford Visitor Information Centre.
Claire: Yes. I only joined them a few months ago. There is a community spirit for creativity. It’s so important. It gives people that opportunity to express themselves. Everyone’s got a story.
Eve: What is your own journey to becoming an artist?
Claire: I was totally not an artist. I was told that very firmly by a teacher at school, that I was not a painter anyway. So I went to textiles and interestingly when I did it, it came out abstract. That gave me the opportunity to create in a less traditional way.
I didn’t start painting until 1996, with some encouragement from a friend. Naturally it was abstract. The very first painting I did I still have. It’s called Onward and Upward. I looked at it and thought – ‘that’s my life’.
Eve: And I understand that you also love painting in a tactile way using your hands.
Claire: Yes, to have paint on your hands is fabulous. I love the way the paint moves under your hands. I go through a lot of gloves. When there’s no words for what you are feeling it’s a way to express those feelings.
When I was going through my cancer journey it helped me to somehow articulate what I was going through.
Eve: Can you tell me a bit more about that journey?
Claire: I had breast cancer in 2010. A full year of therapy, radical surgery, chemotherapy, the whole catastrophe. And through that came the chance to exhibit through the Cancer Council.
When you sit down with some paints, pencils or even just one pencil you will learn something about yourself every time.
Eve: I hear that you have taken that passion in another direction as well.
Claire: I completed the Holistic Integrated Creative Arts Therapies Training Course through Soul-Full Mind College, a 12-month course, which I did last year. I graduated with honours which was nice. It was the best thing ever.
Eve: Have you worked in any other fields?
Claire: Yes. I worked for 40 years in medical reception. I was a practice manager for a paediatrician in Geelong and I have also managed hospitality venues, a few of those. But this is what I love. It only took me 60 years.
Eve: You do give the impression that you have found your passion in life.
Claire: I love it. This is about self discovery through the creative arts and it’s about joy. We all spend so much time in fight or flight. Your body can’t heal when it’s in fight or flight.
I now work with groups or individuals with the program I have developed called Untangle You which I developed during the course last year. It’s for anyone.
We do meditation and breathing to become utterly relaxed and then we can start to create. The empowerment that comes from that is just exquisite. People always want to learn but they don’t necessarily want to be taught.
I am hoping to run a parent and child event probably through the Daylesford Neighbourhood Centre through this summer break.
Eve: And what’s happening with the pop-up art exhibitions at the Visitor Centre?
Claire: The Daylesford Regional Arts Cooperative is having a different member artist each exhibit their work solo for four to six weeks at a time right through 2025. I’m January I believe which means I’d better get going.
