The Big Draw Interview

In August The Big Draw interviewed Claire…

Here’s an excerpt:

Claire, you’re a writer and a visual artist, and I’m curious to know how this works on a day-to-day basis. Do you find that some mornings you wake up wanting only to work with the visual, and vice versa? Or do the two often work together?

"Yes, I’m both, and both are crucial to me. The way I use verbal and non-verbal has something to do with mind/body, or intuitive/rational. Sometimes I feel words nail things too absolutely, or that there just aren’t the right words, whereas working visually can unlock things I’ve not even begun to understand in a conscious way.  But the reverse is also true: I can use words to make a bossy X-ray more ambivalent. I was on a residency a while ago, trying to find ways of using poetry and drawing equally - so that drawing wasn’t an illustration of words, and words weren’t the explanation of a drawing. I was using my own medical files as source material, redacting medical letters, and transcribing my ECG into a score to be played on a musical box (‘Heart in C Minor’). I think play is massively important, and not having too fixed an idea of what will result."

Read the full interview here thebigdraw.org