Introduction & Printmaking Style

Clare Halifax is a London-based print maker who creates intricate drawings of cityscapes, buildings and birds. She primarily uses silk screen printing onto paper as a way of conveying her ideas and this allows her to produce work in a fast and effective manner, without losing the sophisticated details of her drawings. Gathering inspiration from her everyday surroundings, she begins the printmaking process with sketches of the intended subject matter. Clare Halifax’s prints greatly involve architecture and structures, which she admires for their geometry and the way in which buildings can depict society’s evolution. She then works on refining the image using digital editing software and also utilizes this to produce her signature patterned skies, created from her own drawings. She prints the separate layers of the design as positives to then use in the screen printing process.

Background & Influences

Clare Halifax grew up in the town of Frome, near Bath. She describes it as “a beautiful part of the word, with renowned architecture and a strong focus of arts in the community”. Due to substantial creative influences, support and encouragement in her home and school life, her artistic abilities flourished and lead her to graduate from the University of Loughborough in 2000, with a BA Hons in Printed textile design. She went on to successfully sell her work to international fashion and interior markets in France, Japan and America. William Morris was an early inspiration of hers, with his ability to produce intricate design and depth through detailed mark making.

After working for seven years as a textile designer, Clare Halifax decided to concentrate more on drawing and in 2009 completed a Multi-disciplinary printmaking Masters at the University of the West of England. This enabled her to experience different mediums in which she could incorporate her drawing skills.

In the Gallery

In our Ealing gallery, we show many of Clare Halifax’s London themed prints, which are always incredibly popular with visitors. Her style is very much appreciated, with the striking, repeat pattern skies, mainly made out of geometric shapes and sometimes birds, with intricately drawn buildings, shown from different angles, in the foreground. Her favourite prints that she has worked on are ‘The Rooftops at Royal Albert Hall’ and ‘Hello London’ as she enjoyed having a valid reason to include some bright colours in these particular prints.

Aside from creating her silkscreen prints, Clare Halifax enjoys other artistic techniques including etching and lino cutting as they provide her with different challenges, opportunities and results. She also enjoys embroidery and quilting, which is reminiscent of her days designing textiles.

Clare Halifax currently lives in London and creates her prints at the ‘Print Club London’ in Dalston.