Claire Stankus was born and raised in the suburbs of Albany, NY. She earned a BFA in Painting from Syracuse University and earned her MFA in Studio Art at the University of Connecticut. She has attended artist residencies at the Studios at MASS MoCA, Vermont Studio Center, and Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild. Claire exhibits widely around the northeastern states and across Virginia. Most recently she was granted a Virginia Visual Artist Emergency Relief Fellowship from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and is currently working on a newer body of abstract paintings.