Caitlyn Clester
Artist Bio
Caitlyn Clester is a 24-year-old artist, writer, curator, and aspiring teacher currently living in Southern California. She completed her AA in Art History at the College of the Desert, her BFA in Photography at Pacific Northwest College of Art, and her MA in Critical Theory at PNCA’s Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies.
Caitlyn is an installation and performance-based artist working interchangeably through the mediums of photography, videography, sculpture, performance, and textiles. Oftentimes her work involves a medley of all mediums, exploring how materiality and affect can come to represent the physical, tangible body; and more specifically, the limitations, accessibility, and healing of the fat, disabled body.
Alongside her fine-art practice, she works in creative non-fiction and publication writing/ research. She is also an event and product photographer, with experience in editorial photography.
Caitlyn has exhibited in many group shows around the Coachella Valley, Portland, and contributed to various art magazines through both editorials and interviews. She curated an exhibition in Portland, OR in 2017, won the Photography Council Award from the Palm Springs Art Museum in 2016, and won both the Hellman Thesis Award from Pacific Northwest College of Arts in 2019. and the MA in Critical Studies Thesis award in 2020.
What kind of public art project do I want to work on?
I have worked in gallery and non-profit spaces for the past 7 years, 3 of which were based in the Coachella Valley. I have also curated and co-curated 2 shows that centered collective healing and art education.
If you don’t have public art experience, please describe your interest in a public art project.: Having returned to my hometown after 4 years of studying art history/ art theory and fine art in College and Grad school in Portland, OR, I am interested in developing an art-based project space somewhere within the Coachella Valley that exhibits contemporary local artists (and artists from all around Southern California) who work across all mediums. Ideally, this space will be home to gallery exhibitions, live art performances, and workshops to share, learn, and collectively heal through the arts.
