My artworks explore the relationship between memory, landscape, and identity, using drawing, painting and photography. Artworks develop over time - with the surface worked into, pigment removed and then re-applied to create layers of shifting tone. Returning to the image periodically over many years, each subsequent day changes the experience of the object and the meanings this holds. My practice is influenced by my art therapy training and practice, which has focused on bereavement, loss and palliative care.  I was Chair of the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT) from 2020-2026. I'm now on the Academic Board of the Institute for Arts in Therapy & Education (IATE) havingI served as Course Director of the MA in Integrative Arts Psychotherapy for 13 years. I was an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Art Therapy (IJAT) and I've co-edited books on art therapy - Integrative Arts Psychotherapy (2022) and the Routledge International Handbook of Art Therapy Practice (2025). From February 2024 to March 2025, I Chaired the Executive Oversight Group of the NHSE Commission for Art, Drama, and Music Therapy. Across my career, I have had a longstanding interest in responsible leadership, governance, and designing creative sustainable systems that enable organisations in the arts, education, and health sectors to thrive. 

I'm pleased to have time now to focus on my art practice, which is a joy and nourishes all the other projects that I get involved in.

- Claire Louise Vaculik (née Leyland)