Local artist profile: Claire Tennant

THIS week we chat with sculptor/life caster Claire Tennant, whose new purpose-built life-casting studio in Thompson Crescent in Kennington opens on 1 August.

What initially motivated you to take up sculpture?

I’ve always just enjoyed making things with my hands.

It was beyond my control! I’ve been lucky in that I get to make things full time for other people, and now that I’ve moved to Bendigo, more time and head-space to indulge my own creativity!

I’ve always been drawn to things that feel real.

I came into sculpture through a love of materials, process, and the tension between what’s visible and what’s felt.

How would you describe your style?

My practice involves the process of life casting.

That is to say I take a mould directly from a real person, in situ.

I would describe the works I make generally as highly detailed, truly unique and a little bit sexy.

Which other sculptors inspire you?

There is an impressive collection of living sculptors making really interesting work here in Australia.

For instance, Janet Lawrence.

Her immersive works highlight the fragility of the natural environment.

Jamie North’s cement and plant symbiosis, Louis Pratt’s skewed perspectives, Alex Seton’s impossibly delicate marble carvings, Will Coles’ street-art sculptures, and local sculptor Andre Sardone’s steam-punk masterpieces that marry machine and nature with a whimsical flare all impress me endlessly.

Most impressive to me, however, is my dad Geoff Tennant.

He’s always been interested in the intersection of art and technology.

He 3D models a lot of work on his laptop before 3D printing a basic (or complex) structure, which he then works over with wax by hand.

He’s into all sorts of higher-maths based geometry and he’s pretty decent on the traditional hand sculpting tools too.

What are some highlights you have from your time as a sculptor?

I made a life-size figure entirely out of bird seed for an outdoor sculpture exhibition, Hidden 2019.

There was a lot of testing and something like 120 kilograms of seed in the final piece.

The outcome could have gone either way, but it worked!

How can people check out your work online?

My websites ClaireTennant.com.au and Castmybody.com.au are being updated as we speak, but there’s a link to my back catalogue of sculpture work on CMB.

Instagram is where I’m most active, both at Castmybody and clairetennantworkshop.

Do you have any exhibitions coming up?

I’ve just hung a selection of work at the ultracool streetwear boutique, The Meadow, in View Street.

Also, I’m literally just about to throw open the doors to my new purpose-built life-casting studio in Kennington (on) 1 August.

Are you working on anything new right now?

I’m taking my sculpture work in a slightly different aesthetic direction, embracing an element that seems to be in abundance around our historic landmarks and other relics of bygone eras – rust.

What would you say to young regional aspiring artists who are thinking of making a go of the creative life?

Travel while you’re young and unencumbered with the shackles of adulthood – regionally, interstate, overseas, all of it.

Look up where the people doing what you want to do are, and go there.

See what they’ve built (and) talk to them about their journey.

Be prepared to take a leap into the unknown and say yes to opportunities outside of your comfort zone.

No one ever did anything groundbreaking while they were comfortable and content!