Chloe Darke is originally from Groveland, Massachusetts. Her work combines traditional metalsmithing techniques with nontraditional media, including silicone, cultivated fungal colonies, and sound installation. Her pieces, which reference an assortment of instruments and surgical tools of the past, are centered on the activities that take place in a fictional laboratory or examination room. The objects have no specific function and are fantastical, ambiguous, and/or impractical. She looks forward to continuing to explore these ideas in her residency at HCCC, as well as connecting with the greater arts community of Houston.
Darke received her Master of Fine Arts in metalsmithing and jewelry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May, 2019, and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in metalsmithing and jewelry from Maine College of Art in May, 2011. From 2011 – 2016, she was employed as a silversmith at Old Newbury Crafters in Amesbury, Massachusetts, where she and her coworkers were featured in “Forge,” an episode of the PBS television series, Craft in America. After graduating with her masters, Darke was a lecturer in the Metals and Contemporary Art Jewelry department at the University of Wisconsin-Stout for the 2019-2020 academic year. Currently, she is based in Upperville, Virginia, and is the metals studio assistant at Ayrshire Farm. Her work was recently on display in Contemporary Connections: Mastery in Metal, at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art; Disrupt, at the Craft Council of British Columbia; and Object Permanence, at the Baltimore Jewelry Center. To learn more, visit https://chloedarke.com/home.html.
