Claira Corfe

Claira Corfe started printmaking in 1979 with a diploma in Fine Art and Printmaking at Tresham College, Kettering, Northamptonshire. In 1983 she joined the Northamptonshire Printmakers: an eclectic group of like-minded artists intent on pursuing the ancient art of etching and wood engraving. For many years the group had an annual exhibition in various venues throughout the county. In 1990 Claira had a successful one-man exhibition in Brixworth. the following year she started a Combined Studies degree course, studying Music, Art and Human Biology. She graduated with 1st Class Honours in 1994. Since then she has built up a successful part-time business teaching piano and music theory from home, but has continued etching as a major hobby, using the excellent facility of Leicester Print Workshop as from which to work. She is currently working on a series of small etchings based on the Brampton Valley Way; the disued railway track running from Northampton to Market Harborough. Like her late father, Roger Corfe, she is drawn to the Northamptonshire landscape which constitutes the main subject matter of her work.
In 2007 she changed her surname from Connolly to Corfe and the signatures on her prints reflect this legal change.
She is a past president of the Northampton Town & County Art Society and exhibits with them on a regular basis.