Feature Friday: Claire Ciccarone

Claire Ciccarone is an artist with skill across many medium and her work recently graced the cover of Plebeian's first digital show. As a photographer she documents life with a compelling control of color and value that tells a story and gives deep emotional tones. As an illustrator she creates images that are both loose and controlled and as a collage artist she turns otherwise unrelated elements into key pieces of a detailed narrative. Through all of her work, she tells a story, she conveys emotion and she captures life as it passes her by, elegantly capturing moment after moment. I got to have a chat with Ciccarone about her increasingly more developed and super awesome photo work and what's to come today, so I hope you enjoy!

1. So first things first, give us a little background on who you are as an artist. Your styles, inspirations, mediums. What makes you the artist that you are?

As an artist I feel I am a combination of many things. You could call me a collector, an observer, a writer, I am wide open really. I was always a very creative person growing up and expressing myself through art really just became my outlet. I think photography has been something I’ve done as part of my lifestyle. It’s hard to explain but it’s an extension of myself for sure. I’ve made a good amount of paintings, sculptures, and also really enjoy printmaking.  But really just having a sense of playfulness as well as an inspiring vision drives me to use various mediums and create work. 

2. You've got quite the resume of awesome photo series with models. What inspires these shoots? What do you try to achieve in your model work? And further, you've recently gotten a bit more experimental with work like the "Torn" Series, what's inspired the more experimental shift?

People inspire me! I don’t work with models all that often because it’s not exactly my style, they are almost always collabs. So I approach them very loosely. Often becoming inspired by throwing around ideas, having conversation, by their possessions, or wardrobes, etc. I try to capture people the way I’d want to be captured. As far as the experimental work, a series like “Torn", though only one image is actually of me, they all are self portraits in a way. I really just use what’s around me, a classmate, my boyfriend. I think I’ve always been very experimental with my work, trying out new things lead me there. 

3. Going off of your more experimental work, more heavily edited stuff, how important is the post process to your photo work?

It’s definitely important. With some images, I don’t edit them at all or a very small amount…but there’s a big chunk of my work thats really ALL about the post processing because that’s fun, that’s exciting for me. You can take photographs, think about the whole composition, stage it, do some candid, whatever, but the real fun comes when you have a bunch of images that are kind of just scrap, and go and make something interesting out of them, maybe something you couldn’t see with the naked eye, maybe something that is all in your head. 

4. You've created quite the awesome photo diary work; nature shots, animal shots, just capturing life in a way that's beautiful. Are you just capturing on the go and seeing what happens? Or are these very thought out shots?

Another chunk of my photo work is quite documentary. I am very curious of my surroundings. Of course even when you’re doing that kind of work, they are shots you see in the blink of an eye, you kind of just work with your eyes in the moment, it’s all about observation. I love that. 

5. So I did a deep dive on your work because I vaguely remember you having an awesome illustrative style and I was right! You've got some very cool work outside of your photo stuff, any plans to bring that back? Be it illustration, collage, whatever.

I could see myself working with those processes a bit more. I definitely use that style in printmaking, and a bit with photography. The truth is they are a bit different for me though, when I draw, or make collages, I don’t like to think about it too much, It ruins it for me. It's more like they are just a way to excercise my brain, or a warm up if you will. In that sense, they do influence my work and give me ideas for projects. Sometimes I make things that I’ll go back and use in a project. I’d rather be combining things. 

6. Plugs! Where can people find you? Anything exciting coming up?

I’m always posting on my Instagram, @whiteelionnn & I have a new website that I’ll link on my Instagram soon. My senior show opening called FLUX is this Tuesday 6:30 the University of Delaware's Taylor Hall Gallery, very exciting. My talented classmates and I will be showing some great work, come out!

Remember Folks! Feature Friday is an awesome way to get your work seen and promoted, as well as make you eligible for other prizes! But, you’ve got to post on that forum so we can see your work and promote it! So post, comment and post some more! Let’s see and talk about all of your work!