Claudia Cappelle

About the Artist

Claudia Cappelle was born in Chicago, Illinois where her appreciation for art began at an early age with visits to the Art Institute. She studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Illustration.  Claudia has lived in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area since 1983, with a brief stint in San Francisco in the late ’80s and early ’90s. She moved to Baltimore in 2019 to attend a residency program at the Creative Alliance and is currently an MFA candidate at Towson University. Over the years, she has actively shown her work in various galleries throughout the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.  

Artist's Statement

My work endeavors to bring a sense of being at one with everything in our world—all atoms are shared. I explore this connectivity in mark-making using objects from the natural world to communicate forms of life from a macro/macro perspective. Forms that relate to interconnectivity such as the nerve plexus and circulatory system as well as streams that come together to form rivers, branches of trees, and their underground network of roots share a commonality. I am fascinated by using objects found within nature and natural dyes made from organic materials to create mark-making intricacies of detail and varieties of form that become textures. This texture within nature exists in a given space at a moment in time. My studio is my laboratory where I allow the process to become part of the creative experience. As the work progresses I look for forms that will bring formless chaos to an integrated system.