Born and raised in Chicago, Claire Beckett earned a BA in Anthropology at Kenyon College. She then worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa, before going on to earn an MFA in Photography at Mass College of Art.
Claire Beckett is represented by Carroll and Sons Gallery in Boston. Her photographs have been featured in solo exhibitions at Carroll and Sons, Bernard Toale Gallery, the University of Rhode Island, and the Wadsworth Atheneum and in group shows at Mass MoCA, the Chelsea Museum of Art, the Haggerty Museum, the Photographic Resource Center, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Hendershot Gallery, Simmons College, FOTODOK (NL), and the Noorderlicht Festival (NL), among others. She is a recipient of an Artadia Award, a Blanche Coleman Award, and a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant.
Claire Beckett resides in Boston, where she divides her time between her life as an artist and her life as photography professor. Currently she is a full-time visiting faculty member in Photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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Solo Exhibitions
2011
You Are…, Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston, MA
Claire Beckett MATRIX 163: Simulating Iraq, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
2007
Simulating Iraq, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA
In Training, Soldiers Before War, University of Rhode Island Photography Gallery, Kingston, RI
2006
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Bakalar Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Boston, MA
Claire Beckett at the Boston Drawing Project, Bernard Toale Gallery
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011
HomeFrontLine, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA
Flourish: Alumni Works on Paper, Mass Art, Boston, MA
Flash Forward 2011 Group Show, Boston, MA
The Workers, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
The Truth is Not in the Mirror, Haggerty Museum, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Reality Check, curated by Femke Lutgerink, FOTODOK, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Boston Artadia Awardees, curated by Mary Ellen Johnson, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2010
Trying Them On, Hendershot Gallery, New York, NY
Humble Arts’ 31 Women in Art Photography, curated by Charlotte Cotton and Jon Feinstein, Affirmation Arts, New York, NY
Artadia Boston 2009, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
Warzone, Noorderlicht Photofestival, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Flash Forward 2010, organized by the Magenta Foundation, Toronto, Canada
2009
Massachusetts College of Art booth, FoCi Art Fair at Miami Basel, Miami, FL
UN-SCR-1325, Chelsea Museum of Art, New York, NY
Bad Moon Rising, Boots Contemporary Art Space, Saint Louis, MO
2008
Exposure 2008, Juried by Leslie A. Martin, The Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA
Uncommon Denominator: Photography, Simmons College, Boston, MA
Experiencing War in Iraq, Arts Exchange at the Pawtucket Armory, Pawtucket, RI
Visado de Artista: Imagen Latente, Galeria Cerro Nutibara, Medellin, Columbia
2007
Massachusetts Cultural Council Photography Grant Recipients, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA
From Sham to Shame, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Foundation on Parade: Saint Botolph Club Foundation Grant Recipients, Saint Botolph Club, Boston, MA
2006
Document: Contemporary Social Documentary Work, Photographic Resource Center
30 Under 30, Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI
Boston Young Contemporaries, Boston University Gallery, Boston, MA
CAA Regional MFA Show, President’s Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art
Representation
Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston, MA
Grants and Awards
2011
Magenta Foundation Flash Forward 2011 Winner
2010
Top 50 Winner, Photolucida’s Critical Mass Juried Selection
Magenta Foundation Flash Forward 2010 Winner
2009
Artadia Award
Blanche E. Colman Award
New England Institute of Art Faculty Development Grant
2008
Top 50 Winner, Photolucida’s Critical Mass Juried Selection
2007
Massachusetts Cultural Council Individual Artist Grant
2006
Faculty Research Development Grant, University of Connecticut
St. Botolph Club Foundation Grant-in-Aid Award
Publications
2012
The Boston Globe, 13 February. “Simulating Iraq: at the Wadsworth Atheneum” by Sebastian Smee.
DLK Collection Blog, 27 January. “Claire Beckett, Simulating Iraq @Wadsworth Atheneum”
2011
The Boston Globe, 25 November. “Going ‘Solo,’ plus one by Mark Feeney.
Pittsburg City Paper, 16 November. “What it Cost” by Robert Raczka.
Hartford Courant, 3 November. “Simulating Iraq: At Wadsworth Atheneum. By Susan Dunne.
Pittsburgh Tribune, 25 September. “HomeFrontLine Shows Effects of War Beyond Battlefields” by Kurt Shaw.
Guernica Magazine, August. “Simulating Iraq”
Artforum, 31 May. “Claire Beckett” by Nuit Banai
The Boston Globe, 9 March. “Roles, War, and Insight” by Cate McQuaid.
South End News, 9 March. “Layers of Reality” by Emily Cataneo.
NRC Next, 7 March. “Doen alsof het echt is”
Humble Arts Publication, February. “The Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2”
Art New England, January/February. “Claire Beckett: Simulating Iraq” by Shawn Hill.
Artadia Publication, January. “5 Cities / 41 Artists / Artadia 08/09”
2010
The Boston Globe, 21 April. “Who Goes There?” by Cate McQuaid.
The Boston Phoenix, 6 April. “Artadia Boston at the BCA,” by Greg Cook.
2009
Fraction Magazine, July 2009.
Big Red & Shiny, vol 112. “4 Questions With Artadia Awardees,” by James Nadeau.
The Word and More Blog, 18 October. “Claire Beckett,” by Joshua Spees.
2008
Big Red & Shiny, vol 82. “9 Questions With Claire Beckett,” by Jess T. Dugan.
Flak Photo, 26 May. “Today’s Flak Photo.”
Lost At E Minor Blog, 30 October. “Photography: Claire Beckett’s ‘In Training’ by Alison Zavos.
Cool Hunting Blog, 30 October. “Claire Beckett” by Alison Zavos.
The Intredpid Art Collector Blog, 30 April. “Your Sister Wears Combat Boots.”
2007
The Boston Globe, 4 November. “Here’s Looking at You: Engaging yet Ambiguous, Deadpan Photography Provides a Refuge From Emotion in a Time of Worry,” by Greg Cook.
Boston Public Radio, WBUR 91.9 FM, Morning Edition, October 15. “Embedded Artist: Claire Beckett” by Andrea Shea.
The Boston Phoenix, 2 October. “Ready for War? Claire Beckett Looks for the ‘Human Level,’” by Greg Cook.
Photo District News Blog, 5 November. “The Photo Feed.”
The Newport Mercury 19 September. “Babes in Arms: They’re Young, But They’ve Got Guns and They Know How to Use Them,” by Lisa Utman Randall.
Another Company Blog, 9 January.
i heart photograph Blog, 13 January.
Shane Lavalette Blog, 3 January.
2006
The Boston Globe, February 26. “They’re Connected by Community: Exhibit Captures Local Residents Who Share a Bond,” by Mark Feeney.
The Source (Boston University), March 2. “Beyond the Camera Lens.”
Folio (Massachusetts College of Art), Summer 2006. “Photographer Views Life Through Lens of Experience: Claire Beckett Embarks on the Next Chapter.” South County Independent, July 13. “Hera Gallery to Host ‘30 Under 30.’”
Visiting Artist Lectures
2010
Panel Discussion “Before and After: Art, War, and the Veteran’s Experience,” The Church of the Advent, Boston, MA.
2009
Massachusetts College of Art, “Picturing War,” Boston, MA.
2008
Panel discussion “Picturing Iraq” presented by Aperture Foundation at the New York Photography Festival, along with Vicki Goldberg, Nina Berman and Steve Mumford, Brooklyn, NY.
Panel discussion “Uncommon Denominator,” Simmons College, Boston, MA.
Art Institute of Boston, “Simulating Iraq,” Boston, MA.
Emerson College, “Simulating Iraq,” Boston, MA.
2007
University of Rhode Island, gallery talk “In Training: Soldiers Before War,” Kingston, RI.
Massachusetts College of Art, “Simulating Iraq,” Boston, MA.
2006
Massachusetts College of Art, gallery talk at the Photographic Resource Center,“Document: Contemporary Social Documentary Work,” Boston, MA.
Education
2006 Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA, MFA in Photography
2000 Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, (Cum Laude) BA in Anthropology, Sociology Minor, study abroad in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa
Peace Corps Service
2002-2004 Republic of Benin, West Africa, Rural Community Health Volunteer, HIV/AIDS Prevention and Girls’ Education.
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