I came across Clare last year when she graduated from MMU on the BA Design course. Her work is colourful, exuberant, intriguing and original. Her work is large panels of abstract drawings made from heated extruded EVA. When hung they initially appear delicate with lovely cast shadows ... but as you get closer you can see the quality of the EVA and its inherent strength.
She currently has an exhibition at Manchester Craft Centre based on the Mexican tradition of celebrating the dead. Their website states:
Clare Knox-Bentham is fascinated with the Mexican tradition of celebrating the dead. Each large-scale plastic drawing she creates celebrates someones life, as is done during the El Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead festival.
The new installation at Manchester Craft and Design Centre is full of these drawings, with each individual drawing linking together, completing stories and developing tales.
Clare uses the industrial process of heat-extruding liquid Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate to hand draw her works. The large glue-gun like extrusion tool heats EVA plastic to a very high temperature and allows it to flow through a nozzle, which she can then control and draw with. The method forces the artist to draw with a continual line, creating the unique style of the work.
