Claire McArdle is an internationally recognized sculptor. She grew up in the Washington DC metro area where she began studying art in high school. Her regular trips to the National museums at a young age exposed her to a wide range of sculpture from around the world. She was particularly inspired by sculpture of the European modern masters, Old Europe and Africa. After earning a Bachelor in Fine Arts she moved to Italy in 1988 for several years to work with the master carvers in Carrara and continues to travel to Italian quarries to rough out her travertine and marble work.
Her style has been influenced by classical figures and the soul that speaks within tribal art, but her figures emerge from her own personal mythology and archetypes. Her energy for exploring these mysteries and an insatiable passion for working stone, clay, and bronze, combine to create forms with harmonious balance and an ethereal quality.
Her works are in private and public collections throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico and Japan. She was selected to carve marble sculptures on-site for two public parks in Japan. McArdle's commissions for public, educational, and religious institutions include monumental works for Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL, Marian House, Baltimore, MD, The Holton-Arms School, Bethesda, MD, St. Bede, Williamsburg, VA, Holy Trinity Church, Washington, DC, Holy Redeemer College, Washington, DC as well as many private commissions. Reviews include The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Daily Record, and the Osaka Shinbun.
She is a member of the Washington Sculptors Group and the Women’s Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
In 2005 she was one of a nine Washington sculptors selected by the Museo de Arte Contemporanea to exhibit in Merida, Yucatan.
