Meet Siobhan McClure

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Siobhan McClure a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Siobhan, so glad you were able to set aside some time for us today. We’ve always admired not just your journey and success, but also the seemingly high levels of self-discipline that you seem to have mastered and so maybe we can start by chatting about how you developed it or where it comes from?

I’m an immigrant and the child of immigrants. I grew up in a working class family who made sacrifices so that their children would have a better life in the USA. They worked their way into the middle class and sent us to college. I learned self-discipline from them.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am finally a full-time artist having retired from teaching drawing and painting to university students. Like most of the artists I know, I had a day job. I was fortunate in that I enjoyed teaching; however, the politics of academia I found tiresome.

To have time in the studio is like being able to breathe fresh air after being confined in a small cramped room without windows. The last three years I have been able to focus more clearly on my work which has shifted. I am still a narrative painter although the children have slowly disappeared from the paintings. My focus remains on the environment but it is increasingly turning towards the intangible, what lies beyond the known. We know so little and yet act as if we know everything.

I am fortunate to have been able to do art residencies at Ucross and Playa the last two years, and this fall I will do one at Cill Rialaig in Ireland.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

To have a life as an artist one must have technical skill, tenacity, and luck. I do have the first two qualities and at times I have had the third.

Tenacity will improve your technical skills and sometimes you have to create your luck. Be opened minded. Take risks.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

As I am older, I take this question seriously. My plan is to spend time in the studio, travel, cherish my friends, and be kind. This is not the time to rest! I will not “go gentle into that good night” although I will remain curious.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://siobhanmcclure.com
• Instagram: @mccluresioban

Image Credits

Siobhan McClure