After earning a B.A. in Graphic Design at Coventry University, Claire began as an illustrator creating portraits of famous business leaders and politicians. Similar private works included a commission of Marilyn Monroe for Rihanna. The portrait gained a huge amount of attention in the global media and many similar commissions followed. Claire has since exhibited widely, in museum exhibitions and on the world's biggest stage in the Blue Zone of the UN Climate Change Conference. She has raised substantial funds for conservation and environmental organisations, winning awards for raising awareness of threats facing keystone species. Claire has achieved Active Membership of the Gallery Climate Coalition for the third consecutive year, along with several blue-chip galleries, institutions and museums demonstrating environmental sustainability best practice.
Style and inspiration
Critically acclaimed as metaphors of our time, Claire's paintings explore the effects of humans on other species and ecosystems. With a visual language that speaks for the climate and nature, Claire creates highly nuanced environmental art with political and cultural undertones. Taking influence from art history, classical literature, science and the natural world, Claire produces a vigorously meaningful mosaic of literal and symbolic imagery, condensing ideas and memories through multiple layers. An immediate sense of profusion co-exists simultaneously with vanishing creatures and habitat. Incorporating sustainably harvested Natural Earth Pigments which are the perfect vehicle for translating the messages inherent within her work, the artist creates vibrant paintings that expose the war of consumption on nature.
Notable collections, exhibitions and media
Claire's artworks are widely collected - most famously, Rihanna commissioned a portrait of Marilyn Monroe created with 65,000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals. The Blue Marilyn featured in a special edition of Vogue Paris, guest-edited by Rihanna in a profile of her favourite things. Claire's work has been displayed in museum exhibitions including Corinium Museum, Canal Museum, Pontefract Museum, Museum in the Park, as well as installations in Ripon Cathedral, York Minster, Norwich Cathedral, Harrods and Whiteley's. Her paintings have previously been exhibited at prestigious venues including Wakefield Art Gallery, The Mall Galleries, London, Hotel Cafe Royal, London, Savoy Hotel, London, The Royal Horticultural Halls, London, RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate, The Third Space in conjunction with Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, The Amy Winehouse Foundation in conjunction with Proud Gallery, London, The Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh, The Oxo Tower Gallery, London, Platform, in conjunction with London Fashion Week, UNESCO & IUGS Planet Earth in conjunction with Opus Gallery, Exeter, The Other Art Fair, Truman Brewery, London. Her work regularly features in the global media, including the BBC, Elle, Forbes, Huffington Post Arts, The Observer, The Telegraph, The Times, Vogue, and many others. Claire Milner is currently represented by Noon Powell Fine Art in London.
Charity collaborations
Claire regularly partners with environmental organisations to enable on-the-ground projects around the world, ensuring that her art has a direct connection and a positive effect on the content it speaks about. A selection of charity collaborations include: Explorers Against Extinction at The Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh and the Oxo Tower Gallery, London. Charity: water at The Other Art Fair, Truman Brewery, London. Explorers Against Extinction at COP26, Glasgow. 21 For 21, championed the work of 21 conservation projects from around the world throughout 2021. 'Ocean Rainforest' won the Oceanic Global Artivism Challenge during Art Basel Miami, the judges included Susan Rockefeller, Dustin Yellin, Aaron Levi Garvey, Doumi Busturia, Alexandre Arrechea and Zaria Forman. 'The Unknown' was commissioned by actress and animal activist Dame Virginia McKenna, auctioned in aid of the Born Free Foundation it sold to actress and activist Dame Joanna Lumley. 'Delicate and Mighty' was sold to a collector in New York in aid of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. 'Burning Bright' was sold to a collector in Germany after being exhibited at London's Hotel Café Royal and auctioned at The Savoy Hotel in aid of Save Wild Tigers, The Born Free Foundation and The Environmental Investigation Agency.
