From The Collection: Debra Claffey

Debra Claffey in her New Hampshire studio in 2021.

R&F Tier Artist Instructor Debra Claffey earned her BFA in painting from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and an AAS in Horticultural Technology from the University of New Hampshire. In both 2011 and 2021, she received grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been shown throughout New England, including AVA Gallery, the Southern Vermont Arts Center Gallery, Cotuit Center for the Arts, and at Worcester State University, and is part of the permanent collection of Laventhol & Horwath in Boston.

Debra is a member of the Monotype Guild of New England and the New Hampshire chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art, as well as New England Wax. She served as president of New England Wax from 2013 - 2015 and as Senior Editor for ProWax Journal from 2014 - 2018. We are delighted to have a painting by Debra as part of our permanent collection.

In your artist statement, you describe how your experience in horticulture and organic land care led you to focus in on the plant world and the assaults on the soil, biodiversity of plant species, and the protection of native flora. Can you share with me how your work brought you to these deeper understandings and became the focus of your artistic practice?

Debra Claffey, Edges and Spaces I, 36” x 36”, oil monotype, oil, and encaustic on panel.

In 2001 I started a company - Artful Gardener Professional Garden Services - that specialized in organic landscape design and maintenance for residential gardens. I received an Associate’s degree in Horticultural Technology from the University of New Hampshire, and became an Accredited Organic Landcare Professional through Northeast Organic Land Care of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Both of these programs gave me detailed knowledge about photosynthesis, plant behavior, and soil biology. It changed my life and world view.

New information about mycorrhizzal (fungal) networks in the soil and plant communication, both within and between species, has reinforced what I learned and the startling awareness of plant life as a major force in our existence as humans on the planet we share. I can talk your ear off about the role of plants in our eco-system, as much as anyone will take.

How does your printmaking and your painting practice intersect?

For me, both printmaking and painting are a form of drawing, and the drawing is an extension of my body. My prints are made without a press, usually with R&F Pigment Sticks or Williamsburg oils and R&F Blending Medium. My paintings are often a layering of prints combined with painting and connected with encaustic medium.

You served as president of New England Wax (NEW). In what ways does being part of NEW feed your practice as an artist?

New England Wax supports the artistic life we often make in isolation, with other artists who work with wax. The friendships I have made in my time with NEW are forever and deep. Together we pursue the skills we all need to succeed — both sharing and learning. When we exhibit together, I get to see the fruits of cross-pollination (forgive the plant reference!). So often the approach any one of these exceptional artists takes with encaustic opens up new avenues of investigation for me.

Debra Claffey in her studio in 2019. (Video still: Jason Modeski)

What is your studio practice like? How often do you work?

In 2015, I reduced the size of my company in order to have more time in the studio and less time on the highway commuting. I’m in the studio almost every day now.

Where do you exhibit?

I exhibit as often as possible, share my art with supporters in a monthly newsletter, and work with three fellow artists in a type of collective, called Elemental (Charyl Weissbach, Donna Hamil Talman, and Patricia Gerkin).  Currently we have an exhibition at Highfield Hall and Gardens in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

I’ve discovered how rewarding teaching what I love to other artists can be. I reorganized my studio space in my teeny barn so that I could give workshops for up to 4 artists, and travel a bit to do encaustic workshops in art centers and museums. With Covid everything changed, of course, and I spent time learning Zoom and camera setups, and everything else we all had to learn overnight to keep going. Now my workshops are mostly virtual, but I have opened the studio again to one or two artists at a time.

How have you sustained your creativity through the years?

I sustain myself by learning. I’ve taken several fabulous workshops at R&F over the years with Cynthia Winika, Laura Moriarty, Lisa Pressman, and Alexandre Masino. I’m currently enrolled in the Yellow Chair Salon, a “virtual residency” with Michael David and the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. The discussion, feedback, and connection with other artists from all over the world really helps with the sense of isolation that comes with a solo practice away from the city and during a pandemic.

Debra Claffey, Leaves and Green, 12” x 12”, encaustic, oil, and metal transfer on panel, 2014. R&F Permanent Collection.

Can you tell me a little bit about your painting Leaves and Green in R&F’s permanent collection? Where does it fit into your evolution as an artist?

I love this piece. I finished it in 2014, but it presages my work today. It’s about the field of plant forms connected to the layer of drawing that represents my hand, my body, my self in the world. It’s on my favorite paper, Rives BFK, worked with oils and graphite, layered onto a panel with encaustic medium and drawn into with a gifted sheet of metal transfer paper. Whenever I look at it, it brings up memories of those plants, that experience of drawing, and the gift from a friend of a new material to try.

Debra Claffey, Leaf Music, 36” x 84”, oil on paper, 2021. This piece was exhibited at the Fitchburg Art Museum as part of the 85th Regional Exhibition of Art and Craft.

How can people find you? What upcoming workshops do you have available?

My website, debraclaffey.com is the portal to my new work, to workshops, and to my blog. Day-to-day explorations of work and life are posted on Instagram, @debraclaffeyart, and Facebook, DebraClaffeyArt.

I run a weekly online interactive class that is part demo, part art share, and part open-studio on Wednesdays and Fridays, called Painting and Drawing and Everything in Between, as well as any of the several workshops on my website. I work slightly differently in that dates are not set until someone asks for a workshop and then we schedule it. So, if you see a workshop that interests you be sure to contact me and we will set it up. I will return to teaching encaustic painting in person at the New Art Center in Newton, Massachusetts September 23.

My painting Leaf Music is currently on view at the The 85th Regional Exhibition of Art & Craft at the Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, Massachusetts through September 5. And if you find yourself in Falmouth, Massachusetts, be sure to visit Highfield Hall and Gardens to check out SeaChange: Meditations in Sustainability, which features work from members of Elemental and will be up until October 31.