Corwin Clairmont Prints / 2022
To check availability and to purchase any of the prints created through MATRIX Press please contact Director James Bailey by emailing: [email protected]
Artist Statement /
An enrolled member of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, I chose to do a series of 10 random site-specific prints in the Missoula area by exploring these sites and documenting through photographs and on site drawings representative items found at each of these sites. The one square mile area chosen is an important cultural and traditional food gathering place of the Salish Tribal People for over 10, 000 years. This area contained abundant bitterroot plants in the once open grounds, and bull trout found in the Clark Fork River. By visiting these sites I wanted to remember our Salish ancestors as well as the plants, and animals now displaced by the Missoula community and University. I also wanted to document changes that have occurred or what may have remained the same. Education is high on what is important to our tribal communities and although the bitterroot is no longer harvested on the one square mile land area, it is hoped that higher education opportunities will equally contribute to the positive economy, cultural strength, health and good future of our tribal people and for those yet to come.
There are different concepts, symbols, and images used in the prints. The collaborative nature of the artwork is important as it pertains to the need to depend on one another to accomplish objectives. It promotes consideration of one another’s ideas and suggestions. We learn more when this happens and are better able to understand the need for diversity to survive and grow. Collaboration is about compromise and respect of others and their ideas. The random selection of each site reinforces the concept that each place is important and should be respected as it effects or impacts the great circle or whole of life.
The shadow images represent the animals and ancestors who have been displaced or are not with us physically, who have walked this landscape. The shadow is something that you can’t touch or hold, much like the spirits of our ancestors whose silent presence we can’t touch but remain with us. The two-headed arrow, a highway symbol of caution, was cut from each print. It is a reminder that we need to stop and choose which direction we are to take. We are at a critical point in our climate of global warming that we no longer have the flexibility of making wrong choices.
-Corwin Clairmont
An enrolled member of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, I chose to do a series of 10 random site-specific prints in the Missoula area by exploring these sites and documenting through photographs and on site drawings representative items found at each of these sites. The one square mile area chosen is an important cultural and traditional food gathering place of the Salish Tribal People for over 10, 000 years. This area contained abundant bitterroot plants in the once open grounds, and bull trout found in the Clark Fork River. By visiting these sites I wanted to remember our Salish ancestors as well as the plants, and animals now displaced by the Missoula community and University. I also wanted to document changes that have occurred or what may have remained the same. Education is high on what is important to our tribal communities and although the bitterroot is no longer harvested on the one square mile land area, it is hoped that higher education opportunities will equally contribute to the positive economy, cultural strength, health and good future of our tribal people and for those yet to come.
There are different concepts, symbols, and images used in the prints. The collaborative nature of the artwork is important as it pertains to the need to depend on one another to accomplish objectives. It promotes consideration of one another’s ideas and suggestions. We learn more when this happens and are better able to understand the need for diversity to survive and grow. Collaboration is about compromise and respect of others and their ideas. The random selection of each site reinforces the concept that each place is important and should be respected as it effects or impacts the great circle or whole of life.
The shadow images represent the animals and ancestors who have been displaced or are not with us physically, who have walked this landscape. The shadow is something that you can’t touch or hold, much like the spirits of our ancestors whose silent presence we can’t touch but remain with us. The two-headed arrow, a highway symbol of caution, was cut from each print. It is a reminder that we need to stop and choose which direction we are to take. We are at a critical point in our climate of global warming that we no longer have the flexibility of making wrong choices.
-Corwin Clairmont
Print Description / ALL PRINTS:
Monotype, screenprint, paper cut, on dyed Arnhem 1618 paper with additional screen printed QR code on dyed Thai kozo paper collage.
22" x 30" paper size, Unique Edition of 10
Monotype, screenprint, paper cut, on dyed Arnhem 1618 paper with additional screen printed QR code on dyed Thai kozo paper collage.
22" x 30" paper size, Unique Edition of 10
Edition #2 (Available individually) @ $800.00
Suite #4 - All 10 prints / $8,000
Suite #6 - All 10 prints / $8,000
LINKS TO SITE PHOTOS