A leading commissioner with over 60 complex sculptural interventions in public spaces realised over her career, Claire Mander is the founder and director of theCOLAB, registered charity. Its headline project is The Artist’s Garden, the world’s first public sculpture garden dedicated to the work of women artists, which occupies the half-acre raised roof terrace next to the Thames on top of Temple station. It is an exploration of the sculptural language of women artists. She works at the forefront of cultural regeneration in the North West and has carried out landscape and coastal commissions in across Morecambe Bay since 2017.
She is a Director of the Board of the National Festival of Making NPO and of artist-led 303 Projects in Lowestoft, Suffolk. She is the former Deputy Director of Royal Society of Sculptors, and trustee/Chair of UK Friends of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
A former Dispute Resolution solicitor at Ashurst, she holds an MA (Distinction) from the Courtauld Institute of Art (2004) and Edinburgh University (1996). She also is a member of the Tate/Paul Mellon British Art Network, International Association of Women’s Museums, International Biennial Association and sits on the Westminster City of Sculpture panel and the Victoria Neighbourhood Forum. She has published two books and numerous catalogues and has given/chaired many talks about women artists and site-specific commissions including at the RCA, The National Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery and with Antony Gormley about Skulpturlandscap Nordland.