Connect
To Top

Meet Claudia Roulier

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudia Roulier.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Claudia. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I come from a family of gifted, brilliant people. I felt I could never match my siblings with my brains no matter how hard I tried. A lot was expected of us.

I soon was traveling on a road different from the rest of the family. My talents seem to be strictly confined to art, thankfully my mother noticed, so I did have art lessons growing up. I started college at 17 and loved my freedom.

However, we were expected to choose serious careers. I started school in areas of zoology and the sciences, that fell by the wayside when one semester I couldn’t register for classes in my major. By then I had changed to physical anthropology, so I took a semester of art. It changed my life.

I was married young, had a child and divorced. I married again, had another child and was widowed; by the time I was 27 I had been married twice with two little kids. It was then I decided to go back to school to get my art degree, I did very well in school but as soon as I graduated I had to immediately go back to work.

Life kept on. When my son was three I came down with a debilitating disease. I was very ill for a long time. Even so, I still had to work….in hind site the fact that I had to work was what saved me, although at the time it didn’t seem that way.

When I was finally able to quit work I thought if I didn’t try to get back into art I would look back on my life and see that particular loose end as one of my biggest failures. That brings us up to a few years ago since then I have worked very hard to make up for all those lost years.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Once I made the decision to go into the arts full time I knew it was going to be a gamble. I was selling art on eBay and supplementing my income by working part-time for the Post Office, so going “full in” was a difficult decision. At the time I thought joining two co-ops was the answer; I would have two big shows a year and that would keep me focused on my art year around and give me twice as much exposure as before. I was partly right, but the life lesson learned was that it just takes as long as it takes and there aren’t short cuts. Time and money were and are the main obstacles to most artists and that was true for me.

Tell us more about your art.
My specialty is painting and 3-D sculpture, using primarily found objects. I’ve done a number of commissions lately and to be frank it’s a challenge I enjoy. My work as you expect is evolving and I am gravitating towards objects from nature including skeletons and dried flowers under bell jar domes, mimicking the Victorian curiosity jars and cabinets. I really enjoy doing circus themes in my paintings, focusing on the animal participants.

Often what’s different about my work is that I use more illustration than paint, it usually has a darkish theme. As for what sets me apart, my method of going at an idea and where that journey ends up. Additionally, like a lot of artists, I’m a little ADD when it comes to my art and I have to be really careful to keep balance in my life while doing what I love. It’s something that I struggle with.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Oh my gosh, so many people have had a huge influence on me. Going back to school I think my drawing teacher Craig Marshal Smith had one of my biggest influences and my pottery teacher Roger Lang, both instrumental in pushing me to my limits getting the most out of my talent while teaching me discipline and hard work. These were the foundations I leaned on in my journey back into art.

I have so many friends, artists that I admire that I don’t want to leave anyone out so I’m not listing them here but many helpful people in my life including my family who ate with art projects on the kitchen table and numerous other inconveniences.

Contact Info:

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in