Kristen McClarty (b. 1973) is a South African printmaker working in Cape Town. While McClarty has practiced as an artist since 2011, her approach and vernacular are informed by her law degree and previous career as a lawyer.
McClarty works primarily off the surface of wood, on the theme of built-up memory in space. Her practice centers around woodcut, sometimes using experimental techniques to translate this medium to screen print and monotype. McClarty’s work explores and relies on the material characteristics of the matrix and surface onto which she imprints the information.
Kristen McClarty has exhibited extensively, notably in the UK at the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair (2022, 2023, November 2024), The London Art Fair (2024) as well as widely in South Africa. Her work is held in private and public collections (ArtBank SA Acquisition 2022, 2023/2024) in South Africa, and private collections worldwide.