Klaire Lockheart uses oil paint, fabric, and her snarky sense of humor to create badass artwork to challenge traditional gender roles. She is known for her absurd figure paintings, post-apocalyptic fiber art, and installing group art exhibitions with wheat paste. As Miss Art World South Dakota, Lockheart advocates for the rights of women and people of other marginalized genders in a region where feminism is often considered an “F-word.”
Lockheart is committed to painting high quality portraits and compositions with ridiculous detail in order to pick fights with old dead European artists who excluded and mistreated women. She is grateful for receiving the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant along with a South Dakota Arts Council fellowship to make oil on canvas paintings of reclining dudes luxuriating in man caves. Her subversive brodalisque paintings have been published in New American Paintings, DailyArt Magazine, and Bird in Flight.
Despite earning her MFA in painting, Lockheart also produces fiber art by silkscreening, sewing, and distressing fabric. She makes 2D and wearable art to thwart the gender binary. The Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City, SD; the Norfolk Arts Center in Norfolk, NE; and the Sioux City Art Center in Sioux City, IA have hosted her recent solo exhibitions. Because she strives to uplift other misfits, nerds, and glorious weirdos, Lockheart curates group exhibitions in her rural community. She often pastes prints of artwork outside to create public art installations. Lockheart is also thankful to be a recipient of the Rural Regenerator Fellowship from Springboard for the Arts so she can continue to work in Vermillion, SD.
