Today we’d like to introduce you to Siobhan McClure
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started making images as a child as a way to understand my surroundings and to communicate with others. These small works on paper either translated the world I could see or brought to light the worlds within me. In grade school I was usually the “class artist”. However, in college I didn’t major in art since I felt constrained by an art faculty who were interested in abstract or conceptual work which was not what I wanted to create although I love these areas. Feeling stylistically misunderstood in the art department, I transferred to the English department where I was not judged on content or form, and there I wrote bad poetry and peculiar stories. The rest of my twenties were spent traveling interspersed with false starts at trying to be practical. Eventually in my early 30’s I realized that when I had free time, I was making art, so I stopped being sensible and got my MFA in painting. Grad school allowed me space to acknowledge my voice. Since then my goal has been to make work that feels genuine to me. If the work hits a nerve, I know I am onto something and pursue it. I believe artists filter and translate what is going on in society. Sometimes we even foreshadow things because we walk the edge between the present and the future. To be an artist is a gift and we should share what we make with others.
As for exhibiting my work, I have had solo shows at Rory Devine Fine Art, 101 gallery, Roswell Space, Richard Heller, Lara Schlesinger, and Jan Baum. Some venues that have recently included my work in group shows are Nathalie Karg Gallery, NYC; Track 16, Torrance Art Museum, Lancaster Museum of Art & History, Great Park Gallery, Launch LA, South Bay Contemporary, and Angels Gate’s Cultural Center.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Making art is relatively easy for me now. There are still technical challenges, but finding solutions are exciting, not intimidating. The difficult part was finding time to make work. This is an issue tied to economics and the “day job” which eats into studio time. Only a tiny percentage of artists earn their living solely from art sales. Scratch beneath the surface and you will discover money comes from a job, a partner, or family money. This is hardly something to whine about though we often do. Until very recently, my day job was teaching drawing and painting at a local university. I loved sharing technical information with students, providing them with conceptual challenges and supporting their individual lines of inquiry. As for grading and the intricacies of academic politics, I am glad I no longer have to think of these things.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a visual storyteller who works in paint and graphite. I spent my childhood moving back and forth across the USA and back and forth across the Atlantic. This left me with a constant sense of dislocation and transience which is, in part, why I live in LA (a city that is in flux) and why I create tales of change and disorder. Creatively I am motivated by manmade climate change. For the last 25 years I have painted imaginary landscapes marred by the debris of insatiable consumption and populated with children and animals searching for a home. These works do not illustrate a written narrative nor are intended to be didactic. They are allegorical lamentations for what has been lost and what the future may hold. Over time my work has become more somber. The children have left. The land is sparser, plundered and abandoned as the sky fills with storms and disruptions.
My creative output echos my fears. We know so little. We are so small. Still, I hope that my art will provoke thought and action to change humanity’s relationship with the planet. Working on the margins, I create work which I am compelled to make.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The best way to support me is to look at my work closely and if it moves you, buy it.
Pricing:
- small unframed works on painting begin around $700 and small oils begin around $1000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://siobhanmcclure.com
- Instagram: @mccluresiobhan
Image Credits
Siobhan McClure or Genen Orgami or Greg Rose
