Claire Salmon

I’m a classically-trained visual artist and am a Bak and Dreyfoos School of the Arts alum. Lately, I complete my artwork digitally, but I cut my teeth with canvas, paper, and paint. I went to FSU for Film Production with a specialization in writing and currently serve as the president of BAM Festival, an art and literacy nonprofit. I recently returned from painting murals and teaching at the Global Innovation School in Kenya with the nonprofit Kijana Educational Empowerment Initiative. As an artist that is also a writer, I’m glad to help other artists with grant-writing, copywriting, social media, and websites. I take commissions seasonally and am always up for a challenge.

As primarily an author/illustrator, I did originally write this more casual bio for children. But really, aren’t we all just children at heart?

My name is Claire Salmon, no the L in Salmon isn’t silent, and no Claire is NOT my real first name (even though my parents have called me that that since I was born) I grew up in the Acreage, FL where there are as many canals as dirt roads and as many peacocks as there are alligators. I’ve written since I was ten, painted since I was smaller, and now do both as an adult because I don’t believe in growing up. I like stories about broken pieces that glow in the dark. About the boys and girls that pick them up and put them back together or turn them into stars to hang above their beds. I like to draw big emotions on little creatures and big muscles on gentle souls. If I could live in a season, it would be autumn when you can toast marshmallows and collect leaves and wear a scarf without feeling silly. I wish dinosaurs still existed even if it meant one might eat me. I often think of running away to the badlands where I’d roam the desert, dust off bones, & become a paleontologist.