Sonoma Community Center welcomes new artist in residence

During her time at the Center, Claire Thibodeau will teach the eight-week class “Multi-Media Weaving,” which begins in September.|

East Coast native Claire Thibodeau has settled into the second floor apartment of the Sonoma Community Center as the nonprofit’s newest artist-in-residence.

The six-month, self-directed ceramics residency program provides a supportive time and space for its resident artists to create art while simultaneously immersing themselves in the historically, geologically and culturally electrifying Sonoma Valley. Thibodeau says that she is never at a loss for artistic inspiration here – having fostered her sense of creativity through walking her dogs Murphy and Lincoln, hiking, standing among trees in the redwood forests, and taking in the coastline at the beach.

“Some of the most inspirational parts for me and my work are the flowers, fruit trees and vineyards,” said Thibodeau.

Thibodeau was chosen as this year’s summer/fall artist from a field of 38 applicants, according to SCC’s arts program director Kala Stein, for her ability to create art that “crosses the boundaries of traditional craft media.”

Thibodeau describes her work as breaking down the shared experience of human existence through familiar, seemingly inconsequential actions – like serving dishes during a meal – or items like shawls and wall tapestries. She frames these outwardly insipid and static subjects as deeply fluid, taking on “notions of rituals, celebrations, emotions, or human connections.”

Expanding on the nature of her work, Thibodeau says that it “surrounds concepts of the domestic household and ideas and memories surrounding congenial objects.”

“For example,” she says, “my ceramic functional, sculptural forms, and installations all revolve around familiarities that we all share.”

Thibodeau, 25, was raised in Amherst, Massachusetts, by two artists. As the daughter of a fiber artist and painter, Thibodeau was almost genetically conditioned to celebrate creative expression professionally through art.

“I believe there was always a creative sensitivity of color, pattern and texture within the household,” said Thibodeau. “Because of my parents, I was familiar with many different mediums and processes.”

Thibodeau carries these teachings with her in the practice of ceramics, an artform to which she gravitates “because of its malleable ability and how it (can) adapt to any form, function, and design.” She expresses that this versatility affords her an infinite number of ways to effectively communicate her ideas and transfigure them from mind to matter.

Thibodeau earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in ceramics from Alfred University in 2015, and has worked as a studio coordinator, resident artist and educator at organizations and institutions in New York and Pennsylvania. During her time at the Center, Thibodeau will teach the eight-week class “Multi-Media Weaving: Paper, clay and fiber,” which begins in September.

Thibodeau describes the decision to change coastal allegiance as a “quick one.” She made the move across the country with her partner Matthew, who is now a nuclear physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The couple plans to stay in Sonoma after the end of the residency.

“We needed a big change. It worked out amazingly for both of us,” said Thibodeau. “Sonoma is gorgeous. As of now, we’re thinking we may be West Coasters forever!”

To learn more about the program, visit sonomacommunitycenter.org, or call 938-4626, ext. 1

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