Brigitte Clavette
RCA – Metalsmith

M.Ed, BFA Brigitte.clavette@gnb.ca

BIOGRAPHY: Since 1988, Brigitte has served as the senior Instructor and Studio Head (Jewellery/Metal Arts) at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. Brigitte continues to teach and mentor emerging artists, while remaining actively engaged in her personal studio practice. She has exhibited her work across Canada and abroad.

Brigitte is the recipient of many awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts NB, The Strathbutler Award and the Award of Excellence in Crafts from the Province of New Brunswick. In 2017 she received the inaugural Fredericton Arts Achievement Award. In 2018 and 2019 she was nominated for Bronfman Award from the Canada Council. Her work is in private and public collections, most notably the Royal Ontario Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum-London England, the MacDonald Stewart Art Center (Art Gallery of Guelph), the New Brunswick Museum and the Province of New Brunswick. She was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 2000. She became a Fellow of NBCCD 2019.

ARTIST STATEMENT: My work often challenges functionality. An object may need to be held in contemplation to find its function. I am currently working on still life compositions with unadorned vessel forms in the company of cast silver discarded food items. These textured ‘silver skins’ are meant to be held in the palm of the hand, eschewing the untouchable mirror finish of previous work. Currently in the production of new works for a solo exhibition art the NB Museum 2020, Futile Abundance showcases the challenges of food insecurity, food waste, constant decay and perceived value of material. Following “Wasted, 1861 grams” which was built for the Canadian Craft Biennale in 2017, and which is in the McCain exhibition 2019, I am further investigating table centerpieces as a way to invite the curious gourmand and to challenge desire and repulsion. Tabletop trays or platters carry inks on paper onto which compositions of silver and bronze are created. Small silver skins are nestled into a composition of cast metal discarded foodstuff, found objects; detritus of every day.