Claire Beausein
“I love the repetition of textures and patterns on all scales, the desert dunes and dry riverbeds from the air and the miniscule patterns in the sand; these things speak to me of an overarching design to life.”
Claire Beausein is a distinguished contemporary Australian artist who has crafted an exceptional career grounded in handmade paper and assemblage, drawing deeply on her connection to the land and the philosophies of East and West. Born in 1962 in Wangaratta, Victoria, she earned a textiles degree from the Sydney College of the Arts in 1984 before relocating to Broome in Western Australia in the early 1990s. For over twenty-five years she lived and worked there, developing an artistic practice that reflects the raw beauty of the West Kimberley through abstract, tactile works in paper—emphasizing indigo dye, stitching, sumi‑nagashi ink, and wild silk cocoons—evoking both the micro and macro patterns in nature.
Her artistic reputation is marked by over twenty solo exhibitions in Australia and abroad, numerous regional and national awards, and several prestigious residencies. In 2022 she won the $25,000 St John of God Health Care prize as the overall winner of the Mandorla Art Award for her work Chalice, a luminous assemblage of over 600 wild silkworm cocoons stitched and pinned onto cotton rag paper, symbolizing metamorphosis and spiritual transformation. Her commissions include large-scale installations for luxury hotels in Perth—the Ritz‑Carlton, Intercontinental, and Westin—and her work has been enriched by residencies in Switzerland (Paper Mill and Natural History Museum, Basel) and Japan (Awagami Paper Factory, Shikoku), embedding international craft traditions and contemplative philosophies into her evolving practice.
Works by the artist
