Claire Passmore is a British-born textile artist living and working in Mauritius. Her practice explores the expressive possibilities of stitched textiles and the role of textile art within contemporary fine art. Alongside her studio practice, she contributes to the international textile-art community through exhibitions, curatorial work, juries, mentoring and professional leadership.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2027 | FORTHCOMING
• Pollinating Paradise — Detroit Zoo, Royal Oak, Michigan, USA
• Watching and Waiting — McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
• Hot Stuff — Farmington Museum, Farmington, New Mexico, USA
• Hot Stuff — Buddy Holly Center, Lubbock, Texas, USA
• Hot Stuff — Allen County Museum, Lima, Ohio, USA
2026
• Alouda Glacé — Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, New York, USA
• Anchored — Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, New York, USA
• Pollinating Paradise — International Quilt Festival, Houston, Texas, USA
• Watching and Waiting — Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, UK
• AI, Tell Me My Fortune — Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
• Hot Stuff — BlackRock Center for the Arts, Germantown, Maryland, USA
• Metamorphosis — Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi, USA
2025
• Anchored — Visions Museum of Textile Art, San Diego, California, USA
• Hot Stuff — Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford, Connecticut, USA
• Hot Stuff — New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
• Metamorphosis — Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts, USA
• Watching and Waiting — Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona, USA
2024
• Banyan Hideaway — Samudra Art Prize, Caudan Arts Centre, Port Louis, Mauritius
• Deep Dive — Detroit Zoo, Detroit, Michigan, USA
• Fly Like the Wind — Lewis-Clark State College Center for Arts & History, Lewiston, Idaho, USA
• Hot Stuff — Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
• Watching and Waiting — International Quilt Festival, Houston, Texas, USA
2023
• Fly Like the Wind — National Quilt Museum, Paducah, Kentucky, USA
• Light, Life, Love — 8th European Quilt Triennial, Textilmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland
• Metamorphosis — Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana, USA
• Meltwater: Rising Tides — Sebastopol Center for the Arts, California, USA
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
2026 — SAQA Leadership Nomination Committee
2025 — Curator, Breaking Boundaries, Studio Art Quilt Associates Virtual Galleries
2023–2024 — Secretary, Studio Art Quilt Associates Board of Directors
2024 — Juror, Abstraction: Textural Elements, SAQA Global Exhibition
2023–2024 — Co-chair, SAQA Global Exhibition Committee
2023 — Mentor, Studio Art Quilt Associates
2021–2024 — Board member, Studio Art Quilt Associates
2020 — Juror, Plurality of Voices, SAQA Europe/Middle East
2019 — Juror, Wide Horizons VII, SAQA Europe/Middle East
2014–2016 — Assistant Curator, Quilters Guild of the British Isles, Contemporary Quilt
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
MAGAZINES & JOURNALS
• Art Quilting Studio Magazine — Winter 2026
• Issues in Science and Technology — Fall 2024
• Eos Magazine — January 2024
• Johns Hopkins Magazine — Winter 2023
• Art Quilt Quarterly — Issue 29, October 2022 (front cover)
• Quilting Arts Magazine — Issues 66, 69, 72 and 78
BOOKS & ANTHOLOGY CONTRIBUTIONS
• Exploring Art Quilts with SAQA, Volumes 1 & 2: New Directions (2020)
• OUR Story: Human Rights Stories in Fabric (Schiffer, 2019)
• HER Story: A Celebration of Strong Women (Schiffer, 2018)
AUTHORED BOOK
• Quilting Originals: Designing Your Own Quilts (2015)
COLLECTIONS
• International Quilt Museum, Nebraska, USA
• The Ralph James Collection, USA
• The Frank Klein Collection, USA
• Collection of Professor Qiu Haisuo, China Academy of Art, Keqiao, China
AFFILIATION
• Studio Art Quilt Associates, Juried Artist