Claire Cadorette

Art is linked with emotional states, and I use it to comfort others and myself. My work often comes across as childlike and homey, with themes of nostalgia and domesticity. Although the work often seems truly positive and hopeful, it also references anxieties from childhood and how they manifest into adulthood.

The avoidance of emotion pertains heavily to my work. And the sense of ‘Worry’ often transfigures over time. My method to work through this worry is to adorn it. The main topics of my work are collective childhood anxiety, how interaction can facilitate coping, and finally how gender coincides with labor.

There are other ways we can conceal difficult emotions and the work I do is longing to make negative feelings disappear.

The work you will see is brightly colored and interactive. My installations are usually marked by a loose frenetic whimsy. My work tends to be a saccharin combination of colorful glass and textiles. In this work there is the guise of naïveté, but in fact innocence is intentionally false. I am playing with the idea of yearning for an uncomplicated perception. This longing for comfort, coupled with emotional escapism, is the foundation on which my work is built.

Claire Cadorette has been working with glass since 2011, but her love of making goes back even further. Since childhood she wanted to be an artist, and even though it was simply the musing of a precocious child artist, this was the genesis of the artist we see today. Cadorette’s work still grapples with childhood, speaking to themes of anxiety and nostalgia. Utilizing techniques like neon bending, glassblowing, carpeting, and quilting Cadorette’s work sits in the world as a decontextualized circumstance that is often interactive. The interactive nature of Cadorette's work also speaks to her lifelong dedication to educating others. Interaction is a catalyst for critical thinking, which is the most important skill Cadorette works to impart with her students.

Cadorette received her Bachelor of Fine Art in glass from RISD in 2016, and her Master of Fine Arts from Alfred University in 2024. After her undergraduate education, she continued teaching as an assistant at Virginia Wesleyan University and Old Dominion University. Cadorette also worked as the Education Coordinator, at STARworks. Here she co-taught Uwharrie Charter School, and Eckerd Academy for Juvenile Justice. Considering that Cadorette had known she wanted to be an artist since she was young, building up young artist skills and confidence has become a huge part of Cadorette's artistic practice.