Claire Bridge is an artist working across sculpture, ceramics, painting, video and installation. With a global footprint spanning Australia, the UK, and the USA, Bridge's practice endeavours to forge connections and bridge worlds.

(scroll down for CV)

Navigating the layered complexities of cultural, linguistic and ecological hybridity, Bridge merges influence from her Indian and Anglo-European mixed-cultural heritages. She blends cross-cultural mythologies, archetypal narratives, and personal biographies with the ecologies, environments and communities in which we are embedded. Combining surprising forms, experimental approaches and hybrid materials, her work explores notions of the ‘body’ as collective, relational, and more-than-human, enmeshing exuberant colour, material excess and seductive glamour. Deeply interested in collaborative and emergent frameworks, her work speculates on notions of hybridity, mutation, and adaptation as collective strategies for imagining and evolving new futures.

Bridge co-led the bi-lingual, multi-venue regional touring exhibition ‘What I Wish I'd Told You’, 2022 with Deaf artist, Chelle Destefano. This immersive experience involved over ninety Deaf and hearing collaborators, bringing audiences into a Deaf world with large-scale audiovisual and site-specific projection mapping.

Bridge’s work has been exhibited in major institutions and galleries in every state and territory, including ‘Melbourne Now 2023', NGV Australia, McClelland Gallery, Lismore Regional Gallery, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Art Gallery of WA and Art Gallery of NSW. She has contributed to public art festivals including Beechworth Biennale 2024, Manic, The Big Anxiety Festival 2019, and toured nationally in Fecund: Fertile Worlds, 2019.

Bridge was awarded the Westspace/Footscray Community Arts Commission (2021), Hyphen-Wodonga Commission (2021) and prestigious grants by Australia Council for the Arts, Creative Australia and City of Melbourne. She is winner of the Maroondah Mayoral Award (2024) and Living Art Award (2009). She holds a Master of Contemporary Art, VCA-MCM, The University of Melbourne (2021), and co-authored “Bridging Deaf and hearing worlds”, a guide for community collaboration for the book “The Relationship is the Project” 2024.

With work held in public and private collections including The University of Melbourne (SAB), Collection of the City of Maroondah, Honorary Consulate of Monaco, and collections across Australia and New Zealand, USA, UK, Europe, Bridge’s works launched to the Moon in 2024 with the Lunar Codex and are included in further Space missions.

BIOGRAPHY / CV

Key Achievements

• Claire Bridge featured in ‘Vessels’ in Melbourne Now 2023 at the National Gallery of Victoria, NGV Australia

• Awarded the Westspace/Footscray Community Arts Commission and Hyphen-Wodonga Commission

• Awarded Creative Victoria and The Australia Council of the Arts (Creative Australia) grants

Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions

2024 Beechworth Biennale 2024, March 8th - 12th
2023 OLSEN, 30 Year Celebration, Dec 2023- Jan 2024
2023 Melbourne Now 2023, Vessels, NGV Australia
2023 In The Ruins I See The Future, Incinerator Gallery
2022 Chimera, ACAE Gallery, solo exhibition
2022 What I Wish I’d Told You, Claire Bridge and Chelle Destefano, touring exhibition, Footscray Community Arts, and tour to Hyphen-Wodonga and ArtSpace at Realm
2022 Vas Holos, Meat Market
2021 Face Me: The Art of Deafhood, Lismore Regional Gallery
2021 The Talking Ornament, NGV/Melbourne Design Week
2020 Erasure, Centre of Contemporary Art, VCA-MCM, curated by Nur Shkembi
2020 Confluence, Counihan Gallery
2020 Bulleke-bek Brunswick International Screen Marathon
2019 High Vis, commissioned work, Warrnambool Art Gallery
2019 Repair, Seventh Gallery, Claire Bridge and Yuqing Chen
2019 Bombshells in Divergent, Assembly Point, Claire Bridge and artists
2019 Attune, Sawtooth ARI, Launceston, Claire Bridge & Anna McDermott
2019 Manic, The Big Anxiety Festival, University of New South Wales
2019 Representational Modern, Modern Eden, San Francisco, USA
2018 Unplugged, Graduate Exhibition, GCVA, VCA, University of Melbourne
2018-19 Fecund: Fertile Worlds, Artback NT
2018 Out Front, Gallery There: SmithSt
2018 Exquisite Palette, Tacit Gallery, Collingwood
2018 Best of the Best,Gallery One, Gold Coast
2017 In Your Face, Flinders Lane Gallery
2016 FUSE, Flinders Lane Gallery
2016 Forging Ahead, Maroondah Access Gallery
2016 Coastal, Flinders Lane Gallery
2015 Future Memory, Flinders Lane Gallery, solo exhibition
2014 Air Born, Anthea Polson Art, solo exhibition
2014 Melbourne Art Fair, Flinders Lane Gallery
2014 The Portrait Show,Finders Lane Gallery
2013 Alchemy, Flinders Lane Gallery, solo exhibition
2012 Triple Happiness, Flinders Lane Gallery
2012 The Portrait Show, Anthea Polson Art
2012 The Studio Show, Flinders Lane Gallery
2011 Safe at Home, Cube Contemporary Art Projects, SA
2011 Exchange,Gatakers Artspace, Maryborough, QLD
2011 About Face, Maroondah Art Gallery
2011 Visible / Invisible, Flinders Lane Gallery
2011 Gallery Artists, Tim Olsen Gallery
2010 A Terrible Beauty, Flinders Lane Gallery, solo exhibition
2010 Portrait Show, Anthea Polson Art, Gold Coast
2010 Net Work, Art Gallery of Ballarat
2010 Fresh, Flinders Lane Gallery,
2009 Treasures, Flinders Lane Gallery
2009 Transit Lounge, Maroondah Art Gallery, solo exhibition
2009 Maroondah Life Drawing Exhibition, Maroondah Art Gallery
2009 20Plus, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2008 Treasures, Flinders Lane Gallery

Selected Prizes, Grants, Scholarships and Awards

2024 Winner, Maroondah Mayoral Award, 2024
2024 Darebin Art Prize, Shortlisted Finalist
2024 Awarded, City of Melbourne Annual Arts Grant
2024 Bridge’s work will be sent to Space in the Lunar Codex
2023 Finalist, Wyndham Art Prize
2022 Awarded FCAC/WestSpace Commission 2022
2022 Awarded Hyphen-Wodonga Commission
2022 Incinerator Art Award: Art for Social Change, Finalist
2022 Mary and Lou Senini Award for Ceramics, Finalist, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park
2022 Awarded, City of Melbourne, Arts Grant
2021 Awarded, Creative Victoria, Sustaining Creative Workers Fund
2021 Awarded, The Australia Council of the Arts, Arts Projects for Individuals
2021 Awarded, Regional Arts Victoria Grant, with Chelle Destefano
2021 University of Melbourne SAB Commission
2020 Awarded, The Australia Council of the Arts, CREATE Grant
2020 Awarded, Creative Victoria Grant
2020 Awarded, City of Melbourne, Quick Response Covid-19 Grant
2020 Finalist, McClelland National Small Sculpture Awards
2019 Awarded University of Melbourne Scholarship, GAM, MCA
2018 Awarded University of Melbourne Scholarship, GAM, GCVA
2018 Finalist, Shirley Hannan National Portrait Prize
2017 Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Award
2017 Finalist, ANL Prize
2017 Finalist, Black Swan Prize for Portraiture
2017 Finalist, CWAR Prize
2017 Finalist, Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize
2016 Finalist, John Leslie Art Prize
2016 Finalist, Noosa Art Award
2016 Finalist, Wyndham Art Prize
2015 Finalist, Fisher’s Ghost Art Award
2015 Finalist, Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize, Lismore
2015 Finalist, 50th Anniversary, Portia Geach Memorial Award
2014 Winner People’s Choice, Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award
2014 Winner, Silver Medal, Highly Commended, Black Swan Prize
2014 Finalist, Rick Amor Drawing Prize
2013 Finalist, Fisher’s Ghost Art Award
2012 Finalist, Fisher’s Ghost Art Award
2012 Finalist, Gold Coast Art Prize
2012 Finalist, R & M McGivern Prize
2011 Finalist, Sir John Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of NSW
2009 Finalist, Doug Moran National Portrait Prize
2009 Finalist, R & M McGivern Prize
2009 Winner, Living Art Award, 2008 Stan & Maureen Duke Gold Coast Art Prize
2008 Winner, People’s Choice Award, Stan & Maureen Duke Gold Coast Art Prize
2008 Finalist, Mosman Art Prize
2008 Finalist, Doug Moran National Portrait Prize
2007 Winner, People’s Choice Award, Portia Geach Memorial Award
2008 Finalist, Williamstown Festival Contemporary Art Prize
2007 Winner, People’s Choice Award, Portia Geach Memorial Award
2007 Finalist, The Hutchins Art Prize
2006 Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Award
2004 Finalist, Conrad Jupiters Art Prize
2003 Winner, Linden Award, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts & Walker St Gallery

Artist Residencies and Programs

2024-25 Kingston Arts – Magnify Residency
2024 Public Art Mentoring, T Projects
2024 Craft x Casey, Artist Mentoring Program
2023 Public Art Mentoring, T Projects
2018 Next Wave, Arts Writing Mentorship
2018 Bundanon Artist-in-Residence
2017 Tarkine in Motion, Lutruwita, Tasmania
2014 The Art Vault, Mildura, Artist-in-Residence
2008-09 Maroondah Art Gallery Studios Residency, Federation Estate

Selected Presentations and Talks

2022 Claire Bridge and Chelle Destefano, in conversation, What I Wish I’d Told You, Footscray Community Arts
2022 Trouble Making, Alter State Festival, The Arts Centre Melbourne, Claire Bridge and Chelle Destefano
2022 +Concepts, Claire Bridge and Chelle Destefano, What I Wish I’d Told You, Benalla Art Gallery
2022 Deaf Futures, What I Wish I’d Told You, online panel discussion, facilitated by Claire Bridge and Chelle Destefano with guests Catherine Dunn, Karthik Vijayanadam and Becky Rose-Mundy

Collections

University of Melbourne (SAB),, The Lunar Codex, City of Maroondah Collection, Holmes á Court, Honorary Consul of Monaco, private collections

Select Media and Publications

2024 ‘The Relationship is the Project’, 2nd Edition, (2024), Co-edited by Jade Lillie, Kate Larsen, Cara Kirkwood and Jax Jacki Brown, published by New South Publishing
2023 ‘Juicy Matters’, The Journal of Australian Ceramics, Vol 62 No 2, July 2023, 132-133
2023 ‘Enough: Artists and writers on gendered violence’, Edited by Vikki McInnes, Perimeter Editions x CoVA at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2023
2023 ‘Melbourne Now’, published for the exhibition Melbourne Now held at the Ian Potter Centre; NGV Australia, Melbourne 24 March – 20 August 2023, NGV Publications. ISBN: 978-1-922398-03-1
2023 ‘The Polaris Trilogy: Poems for the Moon’, Editors Joyce Brinkman, Jessica Reed, Dr. Joe Heithaus, and Barry Harris, Brick Street Poetry Inc., 2023
2022 ‘Youth and Travel Narration: Exploring the Jade Hameister Archive’, Kylie Cardell, Kate Douglas, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Routledge, 2022
2022 ‘What I Wish I’d Told You’, Catalogue, Claire Bridge and Chelle Destefano, published to coincide with What I Wish I’d Told You at ArtSpace at Realm, © Claire Bridge and Chelle Destefano, October 2022, ISBN: 978-0-6456169-0-3
20222 ‘Auslan storytellers building accessibility from the ground up’, by Celina Lei, ArtsHub, 22 Jul 2022
2022 ‘Mammoth new NGV exhibition features a room-sized temple constructed from thousands of computer fans’, beat, 20 Oct 2022
2022 ‘Melbourne Now: History making exhibition returns in 2023 with 200+ Victorian-based Artists’, Australian Arts Review, 21 Oct 2022
2023 Melbourne Now 2023 Announcement, NGV, Melbourne Now 2023
2022 ‘Empowering exhibition, A new exhibition at Hyphen is giving a remarkable insight into the world of people living with deafness’, 7NEWS Border, September 16
2022 ‘Redevelopment plans put Meat Market in a tight squeeze’, by Celina Lei, ArtsHub, 25 Oct 2022 Hyphen Wodonga's 'What I Wish I'd Told You' set to go on tour, The Border Mail, by Sophie Else, September 17
2022 ‘Deaf storytellers share knowledge and challenge audism in What I Wish I'd Told You’, By Sarah Hall, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne, 2 Aug
2022 ‘Vas Holos interview with Claire Bridge’, Arts Weekly, 3MBs Radio, 14 May
2020 ‘Attacks on the arts miss their value’, Eureka Street, Leya Reid, 13 October
2017  Art Almanac, 2017 Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize Finalists 
2015 Claire Bridge, Reflection and Future Memory, Celeste Hawkins
2015 Creative Artist Issue#3, The invitation of Beauty, pp46-56
2014 Interview, Crisp Magazine, http://www.crispmagazine.com/claire-bridge.html
2014 Hannan People’s Choice Winner Announced
2013    Art What's On
2013   Exhibition Brief, Art Almanac, July 2013 p 51
2013     Phe Luxford, Essay, Alchemy
2011 Jane O’Sullivan, Australian Art Collector, This Art Week, Claire Bridge Cultural Diplomat
2011 Jane O’Sullivan, Australian Art Collector, This Art Week
2010 Prue Gibson, Australian Art Collector, “50 things Collectors Need to Know”, Issue 51, Jan-Mar, p182
2010 The Arts, The Age, Tuesday September 7, p 15
2010 Phe Rawnsley, Essay, “A Terrible Beauty”
2009 Damian Smith, Essay “Transit Lounge”, Maroondah Art Gallery, 
2009 Patricia Anderson, Australian Art Review, May-July #19, p 74
2009 Jim Thalassoudis, In the Real Art World, 
2009 Sadie Valeri, Women painting Women Blog
2009 Art Monthly, issue #219 May 2009, Art Notes, p64
2009 Jeff Makin, Herald Sun, April 6, p45
2009 Erin Bull, “Natural Talent”, Journal, March 17, p 32
2009 Jane O’Sullivan, Australian Art Collector Magazine, this art week, Artist Milestones, Feb 10
2008 Jane O’Sullivan, Australian Art Collector Magazine, this art week, Artist Milestones, Oct 7
2008 Jeff Makin, Herald Sun, Extra 9, Gallery Snapshot, Sept 29, p 71
2008 National Trust of Australia (NSW), e-news, Oct 2008 #38,

Film, Radio, Television and webcast

2017 Tarkine in Motion, film launch, guest speaker    
2016 The Arts Show, interview with Alex McCulloch, 16.2.16
2015 The Arts Show, interview with Alex McCulloch, 
2015 Future Memory artist talk
2014 CLAIRE BRIDGE – Edge of Change by Hand Made Films
2011 April 5, Interview with Lee Martin, My Art Room Online
2008 Kulture Vulture, Joy Fm radio, Monday 22 October
2005 Asia Pacific Focus, ABC, Sunday 23 October
1999 Interview: Arts program 3PBS

Art Writing

• Claire Bridge and Chelle Destefano, “Bridging Deaf and hearing worlds”, The Relationship is the Project, 2nd Edition, (2024), Co-edited by Jade Lillie, Kate Larsen, Cara Kirkwood and Jax Jacki Brown, published by New South Publishing

• Art World Women, www.artworldwomen.com

• Claire Bridge, ‘Playing with Power’, Farrago Magazine, Oct 2018