Woodcut Print Artist

Updates: 2024-25 Art Shows

• Claire's piece The Hunting Tree is currently displayed in the Contemporary Works on Paper show at the Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The show runs through March 7, 2025.
• Two of Claire's new pieces, Juliette and Pretty Boy, have been accepted into the Arizona Aqueous Exhibition at the Tubac Center of the Arts in Tubac, Arizona. The show runs January 10-February 23, 2025. 
• Claire's piece Mountain Goat received an Honorable Mention award at the juried 2024 Sweet Pea Festival Winter Art Show in Bozeman, Montana. 

Claire O’Connell began printmaking three decades ago as a student at Carleton College in Minnesota. She went on to receive an MFA in printmaking from the University of Montana. A certified art teacher, she has instructed all levels from kindergarten through adult. She currently teaches in Helena, Montana, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
 

Claire has held solo art shows at the Holter Museum of Art and the Myrna Loy Center in Helena, University Center Gallery in Missoula, and the Shelley Holzemer Gallery in Minneapolis. Her work has been shown at the Emerson Center for Arts and Culture in Bozeman. She has participated in numerous art walks and sold art at many charity auctions over the years, and has been profiled in the Helena Independent Record newspaper. She is a member of the National Organization of Women in the Arts, and her woodcuts are owned by collectors across the United States.

Claire can be reached at claire217@hotmail.com. She welcomes inquiries about her creative process and art pieces. 

Woodcut printing (aka woodblock printing) is an ancient art form that originated in East 

Asia during the 7th century. In this tradition, all of Claire's woodcuts are hand-carved using a variety of chisels and knives. In addition, many of her large, multicolor pieces are hand-rubbed (rather than printed with a press), a labor-intensive process that takes many hours. Most of the pieces are “reduction prints,” which means the wood area is reduced through carving and each color is printed separately. Although she began printmaking using oil inks, Claire switched to more environmentally friendly, archival water-based inks several years ago.