We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Claudia Osteen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Claudia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
A current project that I am working on is looking at the impact of climate change on the South Caroline Coastline. My project, In Extremis, is a multimedia artwork that examines the effects of climate change and human impact on the South Carolina coastline and the ways in which the eroding salt marshes impact the surrounding landscape to create ghost forests. As marshes erode, salt water encroaches on the maritime forests, slowly killing living trees and turning them into decaying lumber. This work is a search for transitional landscapes and methods to quantify them.
Claudia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My research-based practice is very interdisciplinary and frequently collaborative, and integrates fieldwork, sculpture, digital media, drawing, video, and performance. I have both an independent practice and a collaborative practice with Aly Ogasian. Throughout my artistic career, I have worked directly with scientists, engineers, environmentalists and researchers. My work is inspired by and borrows from the history of science, technology and observation as a way to understand my relationship with the changing landscape. I develop systems, processes, and tools to understand something, and then I repeat that process over and over. I then examine the failures, abnormalities, or anomalies within that process.
I have been making art for as long as I can remember. The moment that I found the confidence and voice to actually call myself an artist was as a student at Watkins College of Art. I was encouraged to share my ideas and aesthetic interests with many of the teachers who helped to expand my technical skill and develop my artistic methodology.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
In my work, I search for transitional landscapes and methods to quantify them. The process of looking at the tiny ecologies that exist outside of my periphery allows me to understand and respond to the rhythms of the natural world. This, in turn, allows me to reflect on how divided we are from it. The work exists in a liminal space that portrays the immediate landscape, my direct experience, and the imagined future of a coastline.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
As an artist, it can be difficult to find balance between making artwork and doing a job to fund your artwork and life. What helps me is to make sure to always give myself deadlines. Also, show yourself a little grace and know that there are seasons of making and working. Sometimes you will be more productive than others. Just make sure to stay curious, read, research, and set benchmarks for yourself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://claudiaosteen.com
- Instagram: @claudiaeosteen
