ABOUT

Claire Elizabeth Gallery represents emerging and mid-career Southern artists providing a variety of original works of contemporary art to enhance private and public collections.

Claire Elizabeth Thriffiley, Director

Claire Thriffiley showed an interest in art from a young age. Under the tutelage of her cousin, Amy Palmer, a gifted visual artist and art teacher, Thriffiley began exploring art history & contemporary art through studio practice.

Thriffiley attended The American Business School in Paris and the College of Charleston, where she graduated with a degree in International Business and double minors in Art History and French. In 2010, Thriffiley graduated with academic distinction from Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York and received a M.A. in Arts Business. Her master’s thesis, which was titled “The Value of Arts in Local Communities: A Case Study of New Orleans, LA,” focused on the emerging art scene and influence of the creative sector on the social and economic development of the city post-Hurricane Katrina.

Prior to establishing the Claire Elizabeth Gallery, Thriffiley worked at Neal Auction Company. Previously, Thriffiley had worked as an insurance broker specializing in fine art insurance for private collections, galleries and museums at DeWitt Stern Group and Marsh & McLennan Companies in New York. Thriffiley also served as the graduate intern for the Worldwide Fine Art Director of Chubb Insurance, New York, as an auction preview and exhibition staff member at Bonhams, New York, and as the graduate intern in the Marketing and Communications Department of the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Locally, Thriffiley spends her free time volunteering with the art program at Children’s Hospital. She is the founder of “Amy’s Art Cart”, which provides a mobile art & activity unit filled with coloring books, crayons, crafts and activities for patients and their families to enjoy while undergoing treatments at Children's Hospital. Since 2014, Amy's Art Cart has raised over $115,000 in monetary and in-kind donations and provided countless art supplies and creative activities for patients. In 2018, Thriffiley was awarded a "Health Care Hero" award from New Orleans City Business and in 2022, she was selected as an “Activist of the Year” by St. Charles Avenue Magazine for her volunteer work with Amy's Art Cart & Children's Hospital. She has also been featured in The Times Picayune and on NOLA.com, WWLTV & WDSU News for her work in the arts community.  

In addition to her work with Children's Hospital, Thriffiley also assists with fundraisers and charity auctions for non-profits throughout the city and has volunteered with Hogs for the Cause, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), the Emeril Lagasse Foundation and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.