Solo Exhibition at Galapago Space, Denver, 2024
Featuring wall hangings with mono screen prints and hand quilting, ceramics, pulp paintings and a fold-out poster with poem.
The work I share here is somewhat a journal from the past few years - they are observations of nature, time and place.
After seven and a half years of living in the USA, I am returning to my homeland of the UK. Being here has weathered me in both expected and surprising ways, and I'm grateful to have had this time.
The wall-hanging 'Clouds', root this space. It holds the feelings of how I want to live; slowly, thoughtfully, spaciously. It softens the edges of our living environment, absorbing sound, reminiscent of how trees in a forest can create hush.
Thank you for being here.
Adriana Arriaga and I were selected by the Museum of Contemporary Arts Santa Barbara (MCA SB) to create a mural for 2021 Earth Day. It can be found on the exterior back wall of the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, in Paseo Nuevo.
“The mural, Nurture our Mother, is a celebration of the power of the Earth and the many magical things within it that play vital roles in our ecosystem. As individuals, we must recognize that every living thing has an important role in our community; and in order to build a strong relationship with one another, we must see ourselves in each other, pass down knowledge, and imagine what a better future can look like so we can create it for the next generation. But we cannot do it alone, climate leaders, in business, youth and community, will be integral to the survival of our planet, and we hope our mural will inspire people to become the leaders they can be.” Adriana & Claudia
lt was a dream project, with some important messages and a collaboration with the fun and fearless @adrianalaartista, a Xicana designer that creates bold, provocative, and impactful illustrations.
At 17ft x 65ft we needed some extra hands to help, and were able to invite our friends and local community to come paint with us, thank you so much! We also had the support of an amazing team who made the process so joyful @artsoto_ @dildog @wisethroat!
Thank you to @mcasantabarbara for creating the opportunity, as well as all the project partners and sponsors, @sb_earthday @santabarbara_bcycle @shoppaseonuevo @cec_sb @artsfundsb @sherwinwilliams.
With photo credits to: MCA SB, Alex Blair, and Paseo Nuevo
Bell Projects presents – In the Weeds – a solo exhibition featuring multi-media work by Claudia Borfiga, November, 2023
In the Weeds brings together works in a variety of media; textiles, print, pulp painting, and ceramics. Raised on the outskirts of London and now residing far from her hometown, Claudia grounds herself by creating work rooted in the landscapes that currently envelop her. These pieces largely document Colorado, but also nod to other places she’s spent time this past year.
Mono screen-prints on textiles, made from re-purposed fabric, remnants, and deadstock, are envisioned as wall hangings. These gestural prints are a departure from the meticulously planned process of stencil exposure used previously by Claudia. They allow a more immediate and emotive approach to her work, enabling a deeper immersion for the viewer.
The first of these were printed on the linens of the late Dr. Peter Bullough, whose namesake artist residency she attended in November 2022. ‘Clouds’, in particular, is envisioned as a headboard, to be hung above the space where we dream, perhaps influenced by the material’s former life. The prints are framed architecturally, by cushioned and hand-quilted borders, softening the edges of our living environments.
While Claudia refrains from depicting human indicators within the landscapes she portrays, she is conscious that we observe them with human perspective. This can be seen most keenly through her ceramics, where she teeters between the utterly natural, celebrating unglazed clay bodies moulded into organic shapes, and the distinctly human, in her building of man-made archways. The colors used are observations of locally growing lichen, in particular the bright chartreuse of Pleopsidium, which is applied loudly to some of the forms.
In her experimental pulp paintings, Claudia continues to explore similar imagery to that of her wall hangings, but with more varied scale. She was introduced to the process at the beginning of 2023, whilst on a residency at Women’s Studio Workshop, and found somewhat of a home there. With no prior experience, and no expectations, she felt the freedom to play and create instinctually. During this process you create a base (or new sheet of paper), upon which you ‘paint’ using pigmented cotton pulp fibers, to form your artwork. Through the drying process, your imagery becomes embedded within the paper, retaining a tactile quality that Claudia finds to be emotionally evocative.
This body of work speaks to a deep engagement with the present moment. A documentation of Claudia’s immersion in nature, growth, and time spent meditatively hiking. Her curiosity and observations are translated into tactile dreamscapes, coming together playfully with radiant colors. She embraces the joy of being deeply absorbed by place and process, and encourages viewers to step into the weeds alongside her.
As part of my Desert Fellowship at Blue Sky Center, I hosted a screen print class for residents and visitors.
Against the backdrop of the sunset, we sipped margaritas and made prints inspired by Spring in the Cuyama Valley. We had three different pieces of artwork that could be mixed and matched to create unique layouts on t-shirts and bandanas.
With thanks to Blue Sky staff who helped setup and facilitate workshops, and those who attended. Photography courtesy of Blue Sky Center.
Print Power is a group of artists bringing screen print & creative workshops to the community, that I initiated in Spring 2018. The group currently consists of printmakers Bay Hallowell, Meagan Stirling, Sara Woodburn, and myself.
During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, April 2018, we hosted a month of free printmaking workshops at the Community Arts Workshop (CAW), to anyone affected by sexual assault, in collaboration with the Standing Together to End Sexual Assault (STESA). Each workshop was 2-3 hours long, with participants making flags in response to being in the space together. The project was intended to use printmaking as a tool to help participants engage their emotions at their own pace.
The culmination of the workshops was an exhibition of the flags made, which were threaded on rope and installed in the vast space at CAW. All participants, as well as the public, were invited to attend an Opening Reception on a Friday evening to celebrate their journey.
Our work continued in Spring 2020.
For any updates please follow us on instagram. Please get in touch with me if you would like to make a donation for this project or to learn more!
With thanks to; The Santa Barbara Foundation, Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative, and Casey at the Community Arts Workshop. Photographs courtesy of Barbara Parmet.
Bell Projects presents – Home Away From Home – a group exhibition featuring prints and ceramics by Claudia Borfiga, Virginia Diaz Saiki, and Lucy Holtsnider, March 2024.
These three Denver-based artists reflect on the meaning of home and transition as each has spent significant periods of their lives elsewhere. Narratives are revealed through storytelling or experiencing one’s natural surroundings through new eyes or beginnings. Each artist renders these memories, transitions, and observations through a variety of printing techniques.
The body of work Claudia Borfiga shares here explores her relationship with the sun. With each move she’s made, from her homeland in the UK, to California, and now to Colorado, it feels as if it's become brighter and bolder. As the bringer of light and life, she is lured outside by its power, when sometimes she needs to lurk in the dark. She has endless longings for rainy day comfort, and for a taste of home.
Bathing in Sun
Longing for Rain
Sun Charms
A Sun Compendium
The Sun, she never sleeps
A collaborative project with my partner, Matt Head.
In a year when the pandemic has kept us physically apart from our family, friends and community, we wanted to make something tangible that helped us feel better connected.
“We know you didn’t ask for this, and maybe you don’t want it, yet here it is, just like 2020 itself - some words, some feelings, some games and more, presented in this tidy little package.”
Beautifully riso printed by Risolve Studio.
My Friend is Sad was a collaborative project with my partner Matt Head, which culminated in a pop-up exhibition at The Arts Fund, Santa Barbara. The artwork displayed was made during a week-long studio intensive, in an attempt to reframe sadness, and to consider the role it plays in our lives.
The exhibition included:
Consequences of Sadness, Monoprints
Sadness the Creator, Mask & Screenprint
Sad Slogans, Painted plywood
Mr. Obvious, Comic
Sad Swag, T-shirts & Mini Prints
Sharing is Caring, Digital Print
Say Hi in the Corner, Installation & Postcards
“Sadness often feels like an undesirable emotion, to be shunned, not shared. We wanted to tackle the narrative on this. To us, sadness is a basic emotion of human life (not to be confused with depression) and we should all be more comfortable talking about it.” Matt Head & Claudia Borfiga
Read a feature about the exhibition in The Santa Barbara Independent, by Charles Donelan.
With thanks to; The Arts Fund, especially to Torrie Cutbirth. Photographs courtesy of Alyssa Seng, Chelsea Willett and Matt Head.
A collaboration with Girls Rock to provide screen printing workshops at their summer camps, as well as live printing at their annual benefit.
Girls Rock Santa Barbara empowers girls and women through music education, creative expression, and performance; promoting an environment that fosters self-confidence, creativity, and teamwork.
Whilst at summer camp, the campers form bands, write original songs, and perform in front of their friends and family. They come up with a band name and logo, which is where I stepped in, aiding them in their design and helping them to cut DIY stencils, which we use to screen print t-shirts for them to wear at their final performance.
Watch us printing in action here. Some photography courtesy of Arna.
As part of my Desert Fellowship at Blue Sky Center, I spent my first few days teaching twelve workshops in the Cuyama School District. We had fun printing t-shirts and posters with 202 students, from 3 to 18 years old, across the Elementary, Middle and High School.
With thanks to Blue Sky staff who helped setup and facilitate workshops, the Cuyama School District, and the students, who were buzzing to get their hands on a squeegee! Photography courtesy of Blue Sky Center.
Print Power is a group of artists bringing screen print & creative workshops to the community, that I initiated in Spring 2018. The group currently consists of printmakers Bay Hallowell, Meagan Stirling, Sara Woodburn, and myself.
We were awarded an Arts Making Impact grant by the City of Santa Barbara at the end of 2019, for continuing workshops in Spring 2020, in collaboration with Domestic Violence Solutions (DVS). We were able to host four workshops with twenty participants before being interrupted by the COVID19 pandemic.
Fortunately we were able to adapt our project by creating a Postcard Kit activity. We provided 100 kits containing materials for making designs on blank postcards; 25 kits were sent to DVS clients, with the remaining 75 kits sent to the general public. Pre-stamped and addressed envelopes were included, so that finished artworks could be returned to us. Participants created their own expression of healing, and received an artwork from another participant. Each artwork received was digitally archived and can be seen here.
For any updates please follow us on instagram. Please get in touch with me if you would like to make a donation for this project or to learn more!
With thanks to; Domestic Violence Solutions, Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative, and the City of Santa Barbara’s Community Arts Program.
A community event organised by myself and two fellow SB Westsiders, Suzie Clark and Violet Walberg.
Participating neighbours set their surplus harvest out the front of their homes on July 26 2020, the locations were plotted on a map, and the community were invited to walk the neighbourhood, helping themselves to the produce. It was a fun day, meeting new neighbours, picking up fresh fruit & veg, as well as some imaginative other treats too!
Illustration and poster designs were created by me.
In March/April 2019, I was selected to be Desert Fellow at Blue Sky Center, a rural community development nonprofit in New Cuyama, CA. Over the course of my three-week residency, I was asked to provide a creative project that would thoughtfully engage local residents.
By offering screen print workshops, I was able to spend time with the local community from the get-go, learning about life in Cuyama through conversations that ran alongside our activities.
My project focused on found pattern in the Cuyama Valley, and we used it as a tool to explore and play, as well as to create curiosity and connection with the unique location. I created a Pattern Hunter zine that prompted kids to capture their findings through mark-making, we went for Pattern Walks with local residents, reframing the seemingly mundane details of everyday, and invited locals and visitors to contribute to a catalogue of #patterncuyama on social media. We used a colour palette throughout workshops that I’d collected using pantone swatches against local hues. Residents were generous with their time and hospitality, inviting me for dinners in their homes or ranches, and sharing stories with me.
To conclude my time in Cuyama I wove together student-drawn and community-collected patterns into a screenprinted zine, titled “Pattern Hunt / Buscando Patrones.” The concertina layout mimics the playful nature of our pattern hunting, and the poetic questions in English and Spanish prompt the reader to seek out their own adventure. You can find the zine at Blue Sky Center, Cuyama Library or directly from me.
With thanks to; Blue Sky Center, and all the wonderful staff I worked with, as well as the generous Cuyama Communities. Photographs courtesy of Blue Sky Center.
Branding artwork for curated group exhibitions for the Santa Barbara Printmakers. Used across printed and digital flyers advertising the show.
The Santa Barbara Arts Fund invited me to host a pull-a-print workshop during their fundraiser in October 2017. I designed the artwork to be a simple three layer print, making a patterned design celebrating three aspects of Santa Barbara - the foliage, the sun and the sea!
Photos courtesy of the Arts Fund.
As part of my Desert Fellowship at Blue Sky CenterI proposed a series of Pattern Hunting workshops.
Half of the workshops took place with a group of ten students over three weekly sessions. Using a Pattern Hunter zine I created as our starting point, we were able to capture patterns that described texture, shadow, nature, textiles, and urban setting all within a block. We then used our makeshift studio to simplify and turn them into stencils. We screen printed these using a Cuyama colour palette, and collaboratively layered our designs to tell the stories of what we’d found.
Other workshops took place as Pattern Walks, with residents as tour guides and companions. Together we gathered images and stories with pencils, paper, and a camera, that described the small moments that make the Cuyama Valley special. An invitation was extended further to locals and visitors to join our hunting troop by using #patterncuyamaon instagram to add their own images to the pattern library!
With thanks to Blue Sky staff who helped facilitate workshops, the Cuyama Rec. District, and the Cuyama Community who collaborated with me. Photography courtesy of Blue Sky Center.
The Makers Shop was conceived and curated by myself and Lizzie Lock (Chhipa).
We love making and wanted to celebrate good craftmanship, so we invited like-minded designers with beautiful goods to share a old furniture factory space with us. Throughout our 12 day pop-up we hosted workshops and evening events, with plenty of mulled wine to get the festive spirit going.
A big thanks to our friend Sophie Kirk who assisted us with the project!
Photos courtesy of Appear Here.
