Claire Krüeger

Drippy Stag Cake

Fabric refuse, found plastic, metal rings, grommets, ribbon, foil transfers

“Stalactites and stalagmites are created by water and minerals oozing through the earth to form drippy cones and mounds in caves. Here, we have these sibling formations portrayed via fabric layers of garish warm patterns. Pierced plastic shards (harvested from the Ohio River) dangle as if flowing down the ‘tite’ from gravity, and the ‘mite’ forming on the ground is filled with layers of metallic foil fossils. Sparsely scattered are 3D red ribbon loops, akin to impurities in the mineral build-up, likely to emerge as a precious gem in a few million years.”

— Claire Krüeger

About the artist

Claire Krüeger

American

Claire Krüeger is a versatile maker specializing in video, photography, illustration, and fiber arts. She has decades of experience in the zine community and is passionate about community arts, printed matter, accessible media, and empowering underrepresented voices. She utilizes multimedia to create work incorporating geology and botany with a thematic focus on landscape and place. She received an MFA in Photography & Film from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2013 and a BA in Art from New College of Florida is 2010.

Krüeger’s work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally. After receiving a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women in 2021, Krüeger and collaborator Joyce Barbour created the educational web series Dig In! The show teaches all-ages about Kentucky natural sciences and aims to make the natural world more accessible through an inclusive, queer lens. Also in 2021, Krüeger was a COLLIDER Artist-in-Residence with the Louisville Free Public Library, where she taught virtual workshops on book and zine making.

Recently, Krüeger’s work was included in the the Summer 2023 Volume of the magazine Action, Spectacle and was included in the exhibition Camouflage at Houseguest Gallery in Louisville, KY in 2022. In 2023, she created an animated music video for the Salt Lake City-based band Snarlin’ Yarns and an animated music video for Dallas-based project Beekeeper Spaceman. Her video installation, Going Down? was included in the traveling group show Paper Pavilions, an exhibition of public art proposals sponsored by the city of Bloomington, IN. Wings and Wires, a poetry/video collaboration with writer Ashley Farmer, was first published by Triquarterly Journal in Chicago, IL.

Krüeger is a teaching-artist with many years experience creating arts programming for all ages. She creates curriculum for youth with an emphasis on material exploration and mixed media and she teaches workshops for adults on bookmaking, zinemaking, and many techniques in botanical and natural dyes. She teaches with local museums and organizations including Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville Visual Art, Speed Art Museum, and Preston Arts Center. Additionally, Krüeger is the Art Director for Juked Magazine and Awst Press.

With a dedication to accessible media, Krüeger has been involved in zine and DIY culture for many years. She is the creative director of the mixed-media zine Spidertown, and has tabled her work at the Chicago Zine Fest, San Diego Zine Fest, Zinecinatti, Lone Star Zine Fest, Atlanta Zine Fest, Halftone Zine Fest, and Glue Stick Zine Fest.