Claire Kessler-Bradner

Narrative Garments , 2019

Artwork Shop  
10 x 11 x 1 in

Claire Kessler-Bradner is a second-generation San Francisco printmaker. Growing up in the culture of the print shop, she developed a love of process and problem-solving, seductive materials, equipment and tools, and the camaraderie of making art together. These early interests have translated into three interrelated branches of her practice: a socially engaged inquiry into human connections in shared space, a studio practice where printmaking, bookmaking, drawing and sculptural techniques meet this narrative social content, and a teaching practice designed to engage a new generation in the materiality and the diverse visual languages of art.

She says of her work, “My art practice examines the intersection where memory and the human landscape come together to define Place. Embracing the materiality of the handmade, I use the print, the book, text and drawing to explore ideas of memory and its failures, manifestations of home, and the human, social and personal histories that collectively make up my neighborhood. Sparked by a return to my childhood territory, this body of work has expanded to include multiple perspectives and public participation in combination with intimate engagement with my personal surroundings.”

"Narrative Garments" is a study of the stories embedded in clothing. The artists asked friends for garments that are inextricably connected to a particular story. The four color CMYK screenprints were made at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley and the stories were hand-set and letterpress printed at the In Cahoots Residency in Petaluma, a wonderful residency program run by our friend and book artist, Macy Chadwick.

SOLD