Claire Falconer

In making sculpture I find my belonging. It connects me to the earth, to its colors and textures and forms, in a way nothing else does. It lays a filter over my experience of my environment, drawing me into a deeper knowing of this moment in this place. It steps outside of the verbal, to a space before stories, where feeling is everything. I live in a tiny offgrid house in a wild grassland beneath the Drakensberg. In the valley below lies my studio and the bronze art foundry I run with my husband. This setting asks of me what the place of humanity is within the wider context of nature. The sky, the earth, birds, and other wildish creatures are my constant companions. Rooted in this land, I explore channels to the infinite eternal powers with which our ancestors were intimate. How can we find these powers now? In a culture that tells us we can do more and conquer more with an ever-dwindling connection to the Source, where do the access points lie? I juxtapose the solid traditionally-manmade medium of bronze metal with ephemeral concepts such as prayer and sacred ritual.

Claire Falconer is the director of Falconer Art Studios, which is a collaborative artist brand. She established The Falconer Foundry (Pty) Ltd, a commercial bronze foundry in South Africa in 2012 with her husband Seth Falconer, who is also a sculptor. For the past decade, they have been immersed in the bronze sculpture industry, designing and constructing bronze monuments of the highest quality. They work alongside a highly-experienced team of foundry professionals.