Biography

Claire Burbridge is a British-born artist whose intricate drawings and paintings reimagine the natural world as a site of wonder, intelligence, and interconnection. Working across diverse media, her practice explores the geometry, symbolism, and unseen structures within plants, fungi, insects, and trees, inviting viewers into states of contemplation that bridge scientific observation and poetic perception.

Burbridge received her BA honors in Fine Art and History of Art from Magdalen College, Oxford (1993), and an MFA in Fine Art Printmaking from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London (1995). Her training in both drawing and printmaking laid the foundation for her signature works: meticulously rendered, large-scale compositions that oscillate between microcosm and macrocosm.

Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR (Pathways to the Invisible, 2020), the Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR (The Presence of Nature, 2022), and most recently, Nancy Toomey Fine Art, San Francisco, CA (Peripheral Visions, 2024). Earlier solo shows include presentations at Davis & Cline Gallery (OR), Marine Contemporary (Los Angeles), Beaux Art (Bath, UK), Sumarria Lunn (London), and Toomey Tourell Fine Art (San Francisco).

She has also participated in major group exhibitions, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (London, 2002), On Earth a Fragile Existence at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (2023), and Shooting the Moon at Carl Solway Gallery (Cincinnati, 2014). Her works have been shown at international art fairs in Miami, New York, London, Berlin, and San Francisco.

Burbridge’s art is held in distinguished public and private collections worldwide. Public collections include the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, the Huntington Art Museum (WV), the Oregon State Art Collection, Western Oregon University, and Southern Oregon University, as well as commissions through Oregon’s Percent for Art program. Corporate and regional collections include Fidelity Bank (Cincinnati, OH) and Hertfordshire County Council (UK).

Her practice extends to special collaborations, such as the limited-edition opera score of The Tempest by Thomas Adès (Faber Music, 2019)

Burbridge currently lives and works in Ashland, Oregon with her husband, artist Matthew Picton, where she continues to deepen her investigations into natural form, perception, and the unseen geometries of life. Her work encompasses fine art, prints, wallpapers and mixed media installations, each a different lesson the same inquiry: how pattern, beauty, and symbolic resonance reveal the interconnectedness of all things.