McClure-Scanlin Visual Artist Residency Award

Clair Eisele is the recipient of the 2023 McClure-Scanlin Visual Artist Residency Award. Clair is a recent graduate of Piedmont University’s art program. She hails from San Diego, California, and has lived in Georgia for the past five years. She served seven and a half years in the United States Air Force and holds an associate degree in Sustainable Urban Agriculture from San Diego City College.

In 2017, Clair left California in a truck and cab over camper and made her way east by way of “WWOOFing” through Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. This led her to a farmto-table bed and breakfast in Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia. Inspired by the landscape, Clair purchased a one-hundred-year-old farmhouse in Lexington.

Clair has spent her time in Georgia learning about the piedmont ecosystem, focusing on native plants, beneficial insects, and snakes. She returned to her lifelong interest in art in 2021 when she entered Piedmont’s Department of Art. She is currently working on a series of paintings and drawings that take the creepy out of the crawlies. She hopes to promote insect education and to encourage comfort around harmless—and often beneficial—insects and backyard friends.

The McClure-Scanlin Award is made possible through a generous gift to Piedmont College from Tommye Scanlin and her husband, Thomas. Tommye is a member of the LES Center Advisory Board and a long-time LES Center Fellow. The award recipient is selected in consultation with faculty members of the Piedmont Department of Art and receives a complimentary two-week residency at the Center.