Claire Krüeger

Soft Rock (Land Sandwich #1)

Cotton, silk, terrycloth, embroidery, beads, metal rings

“To understand geologic formations, we are often shown a rectangular slice to make it easy to understand—the slice cut right out of the earth’s crust. My land sandwich is an ode to this accessible model—like a finger sandwich at a cocktail party. Digestible, easily read, it holds fantastic layers on the earth. In 'Soft Rock', one layer holds large, embroidered fossils—these are all Cretaceous specimens. I spent two years digging in the dirt of central Texas, and this era is the most prevalent.”

— 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.