Claire Anderson’s explorations of feminine power, identity, addiction and trauma are distilled through the feminist art movement. Claire’s intention at first glance is seemingly quiet, muted, and calm in presence, but this is the deception of the material. Glass, often regarded as fragile, is the perfect material to emulate society’s idea of the woman: beautiful, shiny, glitzy, delicate and fragile. Claire is challenging the viewers’ perception of the power and resilience of women in her feminist themes and sculptures while using a material that subconsciously contradicts our preconceptions. When you meet Claire at one of her shows or in the studio, you’re surprised by her boundless positivity and joyful demeanour in juxtaposition with the weight of her works.
Claire has incorporated materials like plaster, chain, steel, Alcohol, and nylon. Claire’s most provocative, Blood Goblets series: Drink This in Memory of Me, uses glass goblets that stand tall with pride, and on either side of the stem of the goblet are glass-sculpted ovaries. The chalice itself is holding menstrual blood, like holy water in a font. This strong image is all about regaining personal feminine agency, taking back the power of centuries of shame around the menstrual cycle.
Claire’s most recent collaboration at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery is an installation made through the process of blown glass, concrete moulds and sound (sound created by her collaborator Lance Isaacs). This installation, like Claire’s earlier works, addresses key issues such as Canada’s housing crisis and challenges faced by the homeless and marginalized groups.
Claire completed Sheridan College’s Art Fundamentals Program, 2008 and Sheridan College; Craft and Design Program for Glass from 2012. In her professional career, Claire has owned her own glass-blowing studio, focusing on a line of functional glassware in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Claire was a co-owner in a flameworking studio that focused on Jewellery and intimates for the LGBTQ2I+ community in Hamilton, Ontario. Clarie also worked as a glassblower in the background of the Netflix show Blown Away, a reality show about glassblowing. Claire is currently Studio Manager at Terminal City Glass, Vancouver, BC, where she is also focusing on community building. Throughout her career, Claire has honed her craft as a glass artist with hours in the studio, while also challenging her intellectual and philosophical ideas by attending different artist residencies throughout North America, either as a student or teacher. When Claire is not bringing the art and design community together, she’s bringing her positivity and lightness to the rock-climbing community, either in the gym or out in the Mountain crags of Squamish, BC.
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Which ’hood are you in?
I live somewhere in between downtown and the west side. Five minutes from Sunset Beach and a quick jaunt to Davie Street. I love it, but the studio I work out of is East Side. Terminal City Glass in the Mergatroid building around Parker and Clark.
What do you do?
I do so many things. For work, I am the part-time studio manager at Terminal City. I spend my days there fixing and maintaining the equipment, as well as future planning and improving on the space. However, primarily, I’m a conceptual sculpture artist. I’ve been at Terminal City for about a year, but I’ve been a practicing artist for around fifteen. My career over the years has taken many forms, but I am very grateful for this current one. I’m also a dedicated rock climber, cyclist, community builder, cook and lover of food.
What are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on a really exciting collaboration with my friend and fellow conceptual sculpture artist, Gina D’Aloisio. We’re working on a show together where we combine our very material-based practices (glass and silicone) to speak about the physicality of emotion and gendered experience. Our shared interest in material-based exploration – silicone as flesh and glass as containment and fragility- provides the language for expressing the embodied impacts of feminism and patriarchy. We’ve just begun making the first piece and have been in the brainstorming and designing process for the others. As well as applying for money and artist residencies. But 2026 we will be showcasing, so look out Vancouver.
Where can we find your work?
You can find my work in various gallery exhibitions. Currently, I have another collaborative installation called Impressions at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Ontario; it’s blown glass, concrete and a soundscape written and recorded by Lance Isaacs, an incredibly talented friend and musician. I have a piece called “Let Me Out” at Addition Gallery here in Vancouver, and I will also have a couple of pieces at the Pendulum Gallery during the Culture Crawl! Oh, and one is currently in an outdoor sculpture show in Victoria. I have my sculptures usually scattered about in this fashion, usually showing in juried shows in various galleries across Canada. Follow me on Instagram for more info.
