We were lucky to catch up with Claire Buckley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Claire, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

When I first began to share my paintings and artistic work online, I didn’t share any meaning behind it. I liked that people were able to attach their own meaning to it. Then, I began a series called “fairy lights” and for some reason, these pieces felt a lot more personal to me than ever before. I decided to share the meaning behind it, which included one of the hardest things I’ve gone through in my life. I felt very vulnerable and exposed, and I wasn’t sure how my audience was going to react after a couple of years of very joyful art.

Turns out, it was the absolute best thing I could’ve done for my practice and for my audience. I received hundreds of emails and DMs of people relating to not only the artwork, but to my situation as well. It was such an amazing way to connect with my collectors, as well as let them in and really get to know me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an artist based in Brooklyn, New York with a focus on painting. My work currently draws inspiration from grief and aims to connect our world with the spiritual. My abstract, ethereal and sometimes psychedelic style paintings focus on light and prisms capturing everyday magic.

I grew up in Westchester, New York before moving to the city to pursue a career in fashion. I held social media positions at Rebecca Minkoff, alice + olivia and NYFW, among others. While in this fast-paced and high pressure environment I sought painting out as a creative outlet. Once my paintings began to take off, I was able to quit my full-time fashion gigs to pursue art full time.

My work has been featured in galleries, corporations, collaborations and private collections around the world.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There are so many rewarding aspects of being an artist, one is being able to create something from scratch with my hands that can resonate so deeply with people emotionally.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Before I was a full time artist, I ran social media for major global fashion brands. I’ve been able to take that knowledge with me into my career as an artist. My two biggest pieces of advice would be: consistency is key and one painting (or piece of art) does not have to equal one post. Think of creative ways to share the same painting over and over. Trying to produce work to keep up with an algorithm will only cause your work to suffer. Also, don’t take it too seriously––have fun with it!

Contact Info:

• Website: clairebuckley.com
• Instagram: @clairebuckleyart
• Other: TikTok: @clairebuckleyart