Claire Burbridge tells Veronica Simpson what random acts of inspiration, education and exploration have informed her prints and sculptures.

How would you describe your work?
I work in a variety of media – print, sculpture, wax modelling, photography – and I like to bring in elements of traditional crafts, like weaving, crocheting, embroidery and stitching to create my pieces. There’s no theme, but a common thread that runs through it all like a stream of consciousness and one thing usually leads on to another. I like the idea of creating pieces that are anchoring the invisible, things just out of reach of our normal senses, into the visible world.

When did you realise you had a talent?
Something really bizarre happened when I was three and a half: I was ill in bed with chicken pox and I’d just spend hours drawing. When the doctor came round to check on me, he couldn’t believe that I’d drawn one of these pictures, a self-portrait which was incredibly detailed. And he told my mother I had a real gift for art. So from that point on, my mother always took crayons and pencils around with her, and allowed me to draw whenever I wanted to.

Who encouraged your creativity and how?
I was sort of an outsider child, who used to get sent home from school for biting people. I’ve got a twin, and he’s an engineering maths genius like my father. So at school for a time I was known as his ‘wayward sister’. Even though I was discouraged, I did OK academically, because I was determined to. But I always took solace in the art room. My art teacher gave me the keys to the studio in sixth form, and I could go there whenever I wanted. I was at boarding school and really miserable, so it was my refuge.

Any ‘clever’ careers advisor try to warn you away from art?
Oh yes, the careers advisor at school said “you can’t possibly do a placement as an artist, let’s find you an advertising agency to work at.’ I did an attachment at one, and was utterly miserable creating an advert for Gateway Supermarkets. I knew it wasn’t for me.

Where did you study and what did you learn there?
I was lucky enough to get into Oxford University to study fine art and art history – they only take about 20 pupils a year in the fine art faculty. My tutor told me I was the worst painter they’d ever had. But my print work tutor told me to ignore them – she said my work was good, it just wasn’t fashionable because I was doing a lot of figurative work. Then I did an MA in printmaking at Camberwell.

Any odd jobs taken to finance your art habit?
Yes, when I was studying at Camberwell, I worked at Osborne & Little, and in Camden Market, at a leather shop. But I was a terrible shop assistant – always late and rude to the customers.

When did you start earning a living from your work?
Well, I used to sell my pictures at school, for £5 a time. And I’d sell haircuts as well. I’d do boys’ hair for them. Half of it would be cut at lunchtime, then the other half in afternoon break!

But I was really lucky, I was picked up by a gallery when I was 23, called Attendi, which was run by Laurie MacDonald. She’s incredibly clever and good at selling work, and quite soon I was making good amounts of money from it. She’s still my dealer, though the gallery closed ages ago. And then, in 2003, I was part of a show of ‘emerging UK talent’ in the US, which was great fun, and I was offered my own show there.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?
I’ve always been drawn to sculpture. It’s so incredibly difficult because you have to make the piece work from every angle. But if there’s any sculpture exhibition on, I have to go and see it. And I love using resin, amber and glass for the way the light works through them.

I’ve always collected dresses. I steal from them – the colours and palettes. But I think they can be incredibly beautiful objects in their own right. I hang vintage dresses around my house for inspiration. I heard a short story on the radio once that inspired me, it was called 'The Yellow Wallpaper', and it was about a woman who started to imagine people and figures coming out of the walls. I made some prints of dresses with wallpaper in the background (I called them ‘Wallflowers’) and wove pearls and embroidery into the prints to make them seem more three-dimensional and alive, and then I started weaving sculptural dresses out of wire, and stringing them with thousands of tiny beads. My work tends to flow from the same organic source.

What is your working process?
I never start with a plan. You can’t plan creativity! I start with an idea in my head, often sparked off by a combination of colours or some everyday thing. My house is littered with small ‘treasures’, things waiting to inspire me. Then I gather the materials I need together, and embark on a small piece of it and it just goes from there. I have asked my friend Tamsin to teach me how to crochet in order to construct these big wire pieces; once you’ve got the method you can do anything, it’s really versatile. The work may seem kind of chaotic, but I have a real passion for structure. The structure has to be right. And I don’t mind unpicking something I’ve laboured over for weeks if the need arises.

I have always continued my life drawing – I hire models because I hate classes. It’s very important to keep that joint oiled, that connection between your hand and your eye, and once that’s working everything flows.

Any unachieved ambitions?
I would love to create the perfect sculpture. One that works from every possible angle. I think trees are the perfect sculpture. They are beautiful any way you look at them.

Any mentors or heroes that inspired you? I love the work of Noguchi. He is a sculptor, but he croses over the borders of sculpture and architecture and landscape design. He doesn’t limit himself. He’s an amazing academic sculptor whose master says he taught him ‘psychically’, and I love that idea!

Could you ever imagine doing anything else?
I couldn’t imagine doing anything else but combining it with something like Reiki and other energy healing is really wonderful. I studied Reiki (a form of healing, where you pass your hands over the body and release energetic blocks that are causing pain or discomfort), after a friend of mine achieved a miraculous result with my grandmother. She was in hospital and supposedly dying. This friend, a Reiki practitioner, offered to come with me and give her a treatment. Within three days of this treatment she was completely recovered. So I thought “I want to learn more about this, and learn how to do it.” Now I use it a lot. I give my friends and my son Maurice treatments, if they need them. And the two assistants I work with have also learned how to do Reiki. We are very focused on having a happy vibe in the studio. I can’t work around negativity. So it generates a really good, creative atmosphere.

What material or medium would you like to try working with next?
I would love to work with light, and create huge installations, casting amazing shadows on the walls and floors around them. I need to find myself a lighting designer to collaborate with.’

For more information about Claire, her work and exhibitions, please go to www.claireburbridge.com