We recently connected with Siobhan McClure and have shared our conversation below.
Siobhan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
When I was a child, I knew I was creative and that I wanted to live a creative life.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
As the child of immigrant parents, it was difficult to pursue art full time. They wanted me to do something practical, and being a dutiful daughter I tried to make them happy, but eventually I listened to my inner dictates. I found my way to grad school to pursue an MFA in drawing and painting.
What I am most proud of is that I have always made time for my art practice. To create is to breathe. However, like many visual artists I earned part of my living from art and the other part from being a university lecturer. It is a rewarding life but takes tenacity.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Buy art. Art will enrich your life. Don’t buy a poster. Buy a painting, photograph, sculpture, drawing, weaving, something made by hand! Living with art, you will learn something about time. Art distills the hopes and fears of the time and place it was created. Time is eternal in art.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson unlearned was do all solo show offers. I think one needs to do a group show with a gallery or have them prove they can sell your work without a solo show. Way too much rides on a solo show for an artist. It is wise to test the water first.
Don’t do a solo show with a gallery before seeing that the gallery is capable of selling your work. The gallery doesn’t make money for 6 weeks if nothing sells. However, the artist not only doesn’t make money but is left with a year or several years of work that can not be shown in town for a few years. Sales are not just about money. When a work sells, it goes out of the studio and into the world to engage with other eyes, minds and hearts. Work that does not sell goes into the coffin of storage which is not where the work breathes.
Contact Info:
- Website: siobhanmcclure.com
- Instagram: @mccluresiobhan