It’s hard for me to talk about who Clairandean Humphrey, aka. Clairbear is. I didn’t think someone like her could exist. The kind of person that you say, “I could have this person around me…everyday.”

The simplicity in her art, speech and presence is refreshing and addictive; she simply calmns you.

Clairbear is a writer, musician, visual and digital artist, with the ability to weave eroticism and sensuality through fantasy and real emotions. Sentimental and playful, Clairbear’s music creates worlds to inhabit and skies to lie under. Her voice is velvet. The chords she strums are simple. The music is so beautiful, it haunts. Clairbear is a sensitive soul and a constant reminder of what it means to be created for a purpose and for something bigger.

What is your earliest memory of art?
Opened to the blank page of my mother’s dental book I drew a girl at the age of four. I don’t remember much else from that age. I think I got in trouble a lot, I remember drawing on every blank page I could find. I didn’t understand that mommy had certain untouchable books. I always drew while at church and I got in trouble for it. My parents thought I wasn’t listening to “God’s word.” In my experience, it was the only way I could hear it and God was telling me a different story.

I also remember feeling pretty annoyed when people asked me in art class to do the art assignments for them. Mid high school I started saying no, and risked others hating me for it.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
I’m not sure when, but whenever asked growing up what I wanted to be, I always said artist. I would get a funny look and pat on head. Adults would give me sympathetic gazes looking to not break my spirit. I never questioned being an artist until I went to Art College.

I know many people who’ve had wonderful experiences in art school, but I felt quite traumatized. I couldn’t do work because I asked too many questions. Now I understand that I simply have to dive in and the question forms organically; the experience brings me to newer and deeper insights.

Being an artist is a lifestyle. We often think: “I should be recognized by now. What the hell I want to get paid!” I I think no artist should starve or struggle, but I am faced with a question: “Would I still be making art even if no one was looking? Even if I die going unnoticed?” Yes, I would.

I found that college attempted this one size fits all kind of approach. It took about two years but I am making art again, but the journey is far from over.

What is art to you?
This is a tough one. Art has so many levels. I use to think that art is something I just did. I was taught that only certain people are born with gifts and talents, but I find this concept to be personally and spiritually limiting. I think that this belief stems from a question of worthiness. We have to grasp the concept that we all have gifts and all of life is an art, and the worst thing to do to your craft is compare it to another.

For me art is story telling. We choose to focus on something in our environment and explore every possible perspective. We use these stories to heal, we use these stories to expand our awareness, and we use art making as a means to connect with something bigger than ourselves. I’ve always said that a wound is a story untold, and perhaps art makes it accessible and easier to process complex emotions, where language clouds perception and closes experience.