Claire Layman grew up on a farm in Western Australia. She left Perth in 1985 and travelled around the United States, Canada, Britain, France and Switzerland until 1990, working as a cocktail waitress, laboratory assistant, language transcriber, recreation officer and grape picker. On her return to Australia, Claire and her sister Terri formed Claret Design, hand painting coats,   bags, cases and aprons for the tourist market. Claire worked in the business until 2004 when she turned to fine arts full time. On occasion, Claire's experience as both a textile artist and a fine artist have combined with Terrie's flair for design, producing a range of stunning creations for the Northern Territory Fashion Awards.
Claire began painting on canvas in 2002 experimenting with materials, paints, and substrates. The first public    display of Claire's art was through a gallery in Chapel Street (Melbourne) in 2004. Her work began selling immediately. Since abandoning textiles for works on canvas, Claire has exhibited continuously in Chapel Street and other galleries around Melbourne and in 2005, 2006 and 2007 held successful exhibitions at the Melbourne Art Show and Eckersley Art Gallery.
education 1983. Diploma in Photography, Mt Lawley College, Perth. 1983.
employment 1992-2004: Textile artist. Full-time business creating hand-painted textiles, operating as Claret Design.
Previously: Photographer, child-care worker, bar tender, cocktail waitress, deck hand, roustabout, lab assistant and teacher.
exhibitions 1983. Emerging works. Nedlands, Western Australia.
1992. Pate and Claret. The Residency, October, Alice Springs. Sculptures, paintings on textiles, clothes and hand-made puppets.
1994. Alice Springs Craft Acquisition Exhibition. Textiles.
1995 - 2004. Claret Design. Corkwood Festival. November, Alice Springs.
2005. Affordable Art, Melbourne.
2005. Art in 2½ dimensions: almost-3-dimensional art on canvas and leather. Eckersley Art Gallery. Melbourne.
2006. Affordable Art, Melbourne. 2007. Art Melbourne.
awards 2002. Terri and Claire Layman. Runners-up, Northern Territory Fashion Awards. Best Collection.
2006. Terri and Claire Layman. Runners-up, The Alice Desert Festival Wearable Arts Acquisition Awards. Alice Springs.
2004. Claret Design. Best art and craft exhibition. Alice Springs Show.

Brandy Snaps (1520 x 910mm)
Resin & Ink on Canvas SOLD

Elusive Moose (1780 x 610mm)
Resin & Ink on Canvas SOLD

More Than One Nova (1780 x 610mm)
Resin & Ink on Canvas

Pink Shift (1780 x 610mm)
Resin & Ink on Canvas SOLD

Step By Step (1780 x 610mm)
Resin & Ink on Canvas

Rock Candy II (760 x 1010mm)
Resin & Ink on Canvas SOLD

Highway (1000 x 760mm)
Acrylic on Canvas