Claire Kujundzic

Individual

Roles

Artist

Biography

Born in Scotland, Claire Kujundzic emigrated to BC at age five. Between 1959 and 1964, she lived in Nelson, where her father founded the Kootenay School of Art. In her teens, living in the home of writer George Ryga and his family in Summerland further encouraged her interest in social issues, music, and art. After living on a co-op farm in the Salmon Valley, she moved to Vancouver where she volunteered at Co-op Radio, trained in commercial printing, sang with the band Ad Hoc and attended Langara and Emily Carr Colleges. From 1985-86, she designed two series of stamps for the Nicaraguan Philatelic Service. After returning to Canada, Claire did a series of paintings and collages for use in two fundraising calendars for Tools for Peace.

Claire’s forest-based work has been exhibited at the Two Rivers Art Gallery in Prince George, as well as at the Langham Cultural Centre in Kaslo, Kootenay Gallery of Art, History and Science, Castlegar, and Station House Gallery in Williams Lake. This series incorporates pine beetle marks, maps, animals and wood textures in a range of beautiful imagery and abstraction. A large selection of her canvas "trees" and pine beetle paintings was installed in the athletes' living rooms in Vancouver and Whistler during the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Most recently it was an integral part of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations biannual conference which took place in Montesclaros, Spain in May, 2011 and in Sopron, Hungary in September, 2011, and Banff, Alberta, in September 2013. In April, 2015, she exhibited her work with Bill Horne at GKo Gallery in Tolosa, Spain.

Her images have been reproduced by groups including Amnesty International, CoDevelopment Canada, the International Congress of Midwives, and the Health Sciences Association. In 1997, she won the Canadian Association of Labour Media best illustration award, and in 2002, a Woman of Distinction Award in BC’s Northern Interior region. CUPE BC commissioned her to design a poster to commemorate the 100th International Women’s Day. For 25 years she and her partner and fellow artist Bill Horne lived in Wells, BC in the former Catholic church they renovated as Amazing Space Studio and Gallery. They moved to Saanich in July, 2021. She has served on numerous juries and the boards of CARFAC BC, Mayworks, the Wells and District Chamber of Commerce, and Island Mountain Arts.

Amazing Space Studio, 2024

Website

https://www.claireart.ca, https://amazingspacestudio.com/

Collection

grunt gallery Programming Archive (Artist)

Related program

Angels (Artist)