June Artist of the Month
Meet Michele Clamp
Michele Clamp grew up in Essex, east of London, by the coast. In high school she developed a love of art and “was pretty good at it.” She was also quite a good student in science which she feels also requires a lot of creativity. Clamp opted for science and attended Oxford where she earned a PhD in Physics with a specialty in Crystallography, determining the structure of proteins, which allowed her to move into Biology. She was invited to work on the Human Genome Project at Cambridge.
“It was a fantastic time to be doing research on the human genome,” says Clamp. She and her husband, also an Oxford scientist, moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts shortly thereafter. Clamp continued her work with the human genome at Harvard/MIT as they realized that comparing the human genome with that of other mammals could lead to identifying regions associated with diseases. After being a part of these monumental discoveries, she became tired of being a University Academic so she moved on to consulting. For the last five years of her career in science she worked as the Director of Informatics at Harvard where she supported the research of others.
In 2012 Clamp started taking evening classes in Watercolor Painting at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. “I loved the immediacy and freshness of (watercolor), it appealed to me.” In 2017, She and her husband left Harvard for good and moved to Marlboro where she built a studio and started painting full time. “It was a bit scary. I had never sold paintings so I just put up a website and hoped someone would buy them.” Her sales have been growing every year. “it’s a huge pleasure to have your paintings touch someone else.” 
She took classes twice a week and did workshops with Charles Reid for watercolor artists. She joined the WSA and the Newton Watercolor Society. She was introduced to Randy Isaacson at Post Road Art and they were in need of a watercolor teacher on short notice. Clamp immediately loved teaching and continues to teach two days a week. During the pandemic she began teaching over Zoom and realized that she could demo a lot more. By recording the Zoom session she could also reach more interested artists.
She took classes twice a week and did workshops with Charles Reid for watercolor artists. She joined the WSA and the Newton Watercolor Society. She was introduced to Randy Isaacson at Post Road Art and they were in need of a watercolor teacher on short notice. Clamp immediately loved teaching and continues to teach two days a week. During the pandemic she began teaching over Zoom and realized that she could demo a lot more. By recording the Zoom session she could also reach more interested artists.
The majority of Clamp’s work remains watercolor although she has been doing some oil painting as well. As for subjects, the artist is drawn to familiar places and animals. She intrigued especially by birds, “they have such interesting shapes and they’re aesthetically pleasing.” She has won several awards for her dynamic bird paintings as well as for her idyllic landscapes and street scenes.“I think it’s important to paint things where we live. I paint places that are important for me…sometimes an image can be in my head for years before I actually paint it.” It’s really the individual’s reaction to the scene that is important to Clamp.
June Artist of the Month – Meet Michele Clamp