Claire Owen is a painter, book-artist and poet, living and working Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She received degrees in illustration and printmaking from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester New York where she grew up. She moved to Philadelphia in 1977 and established her own imprint, Turtle Island Press which produced fine print, limited edition artists books.

In her bookwork, Owen is primarily interested in developing a narrative, using the book in its traditional craft form, including hand printings and hand binding.

In her painting she maintains an interest narrative, by exploring cautionary tales once told to children, now carried forward in the fairy tales of children’s literature. These tales, she believes, have settled into our collective imagination, remaining with us as adults. We nod with recognition at the twist of fear in the child lost in the forest. We can admire the cunning children use to see themselves safely away from the predators jaws. She often use the forest as a setting for her paintings, and as a character itself. From European folk tales to contemporary literature, the forest remains in our imagination a place where the real and fabled intersect.

  • she invited him here
  • the beekeeper’s son
  • winter - from 'sage' (see books in print)
  • the puppeteers apprentice

“The primary theme I am exploring is that of human’s relation to the animal world, as it has been interpreted through myth, fairy tale and children’s literature. I am also interested in referencing Jung’s ideas of the Animal as an aspect of the self, and the Child as a figure of the preconscious self, not yet integrated into the human awareness.”

New Paintings:

I Can Hear
Poem and image by Claire Owen
Intaglio etching with poushoir lettering
Measures 11 “ x 14 inches
Printed in an edition of 10 AP’s
7 available @ $ 130

I Can Hear
Poem and image by Claire Owen
Intaglio etching with poushoir lettering
Measures 11 “ x 14 inches
Printed in an edition of 10 AP’s
7 available @ $ 130

Broadsides
Broadsides

Claire Owen Exhibitions

Stay tuned for upcoming exhibitions.