My Career: Artist Clare Henderson

I always wanted to be… an artist, I also wanted to be an astronaut, a detective, a chef, and a scientist. The beauty of being an artist though, is that it can be quite varied from project to project, so there’s a bit of science and detecting built into the job!

In college, I… took a circuitous route. I chose music over art for my senior cycle as the music teacher, Wendy Stephens was incredible and we all loved it, so no regrets there. But that meant I wasn’t thinking about art when it came to choosing what to do in college. Nobody in my family is an artist, so I had no idea how to go about it. I concentrated on my other love, English, also because of an incredible teacher, Patricia Quinn. I studied English, Hebrew and Italian at UCD for a year, but I was at sea at that point in my life and wasn’t capable of engaging with that amount of academia. I changed to Ballyfermot Senior College and studied 3-dimensional studies, and that got me a place at The National College of Art and Design where I studied printmaking. Almost 20 years later, I love academia; I’ve just finished a master’s and I’m already thinking about another one.

My most formative work experience was… working in Tribeca in Ranelagh. The owners, Trevor and Ger, were really kind and supportive and they hired loads of creative workers. I met some really inspiring friends there, some of whom are still in the service industry and others who went on to work in teaching, food, theatre, art and even set up their own start-ups. I also noticed when I began teaching that I had really good time management and course planning instincts from waiting tables and working with customers, so don’t let anyone tell you that the service industry isn’t real or valuable work.

My first real job was… every job is real. I’ve never had a desk job or worked in any kind of office, but my first ever job was packing shelves in Superquinn for £2 an hour.

The most invaluable thing I learned early on in my career was… I’m still learning loads. Knowing how to price your time and your work is important. I learned that one fairly early on but it still gets me sometimes. Money can be such a contentious subject and often people don’t realise that how artists and self-employed people price their work includes things waged workers take for granted, like sick pay. Also, we have to consider the unseen costs of professional materials, development time and, of course, gallery commission which is generally 50%.

A common misconception about what I do is… that it’s always been planned like we made considered choices at every stage. A lot of artists I know really tried to study or work at something more secure first. Art has a way of coming back around eventually. Thankfully.

My main responsibility in work is to… make sure my clients are happy. I’ve been doing a lot of commission work lately and I love it. It can be a bit lonely being an artist, without a boss or a team to rely on and share the craic with. I get my group work kicks through teaching workshops and getting validation from happy customers.

About ten years ago… I met Mo West as she needed somebody to help her print her editions in her home studio near Cleggan. We had great fun and last year I actually ended up moving from Dublin to Clifden because of how much I loved coming to Connemara to work with her. She’s always been very supportive and respectful of how I want to do things and has given me some great advice over the years. That’s the thing with finding a mentor, lots of people have great advice but you need to take the advice from the person who has really lived the experiences you’re going through.

The biggest risk I have taken in my career so far is… leaving my restaurant job to start a school-based print workshop business with my buddy Niamh Flanagan. We had loads of fun and learned so much along the way. Now that I am renting a premises as my studio/workshop in Clifden and running print workshops in Connemara, I am so much better equipped to take on all the challenges of setting up a new business. It’s obviously still really scary, but I know all I can do is try my best. I will be selling art workshops but also a selection of one-off art pieces from artists in Ireland that I’ve noticed more established galleries can’t take on. So I’m excited to see how that goes.

I wake at… 8.30am if I’m lucky. I’m known for sleeping in, but I can’t really justify it anymore as I no longer work evenings, and I have so much to do.

The first thing I do every morning is… stretch!

My morning routine is… stretch, shower, breakfast.

I can’t go to work without… breakfast.

I travel to work by… foot or car, depending on if I’m at a location somewhere or just off to my studio at the Station House in Clifden.

On an average workday, I…there is no average workday for me. Every week or month is different. I might be researching illustrations for a project about bees, advising an artist, or teaching a workshop to a group of adults or schoolchildren about printmaking. Maybe I’m at an artist retreat working outside taking photos or brushing up on my drawing skills, or maybe I’m in my studio working on paintings or new prints. I recently started doing pet portraits for people, as a kind of fun side business to keep up my drawing practice and it is so rewarding and so much fun. So, now that my recent wrist injury has healed, I try to do one of those a week. My whole work year is project-based, so it’s quite varied which keeps things interesting.

I start my working day at… whatever time I have to. I know routine is healthy, but so is work-life balance, and project-based work cannot always be shoehorned into a structured and routined day. So I put in the hours when I have to, and sleep in or grab a nap to make up for it when I can.

The first thing I do at work is… make some art. I like to work on some portraits, illustration work, or my own art practice, at the start of the day. Otherwise, all the other stuff absorbs my day. Admin hates a vacuum.

I usually spend the first portion of the day… emailing people when I should be making art!

I break for lunch at… 1pm–ish and usually have a salad or something else homemade because I have health issues and need to eat well.

The most useful business tool I use every day is… the humble calendar. I would be in deep trouble without my diary. Tools like Canva and Squarespace are game changers, but also Google. Do you remember how hard it used to be to find niche bits of information?

I save time by… ignoring all the jobs I don’t want to do. My household chores get ignored a lot!

I rarely get through my working day without… a nice cup of tea.

The best part of my day is… getting a message from someone saying how happy my art has made them or a photo of it framed and on their wall. It’s so thoughtful and it’s a great feeling. There’s a reason we call skills gifts.

The most challenging part of my day is… sitting down to do admin.

I know it’s been a good day if… I feel like I’ve done enough and checked in with someone I love.

I usually end my day at… my computer, doing one last little admin job.

I switch off from work by… watching TV or a movie, usually sci-fi or stuff about ghosts.

Before I go to bed, I’ll… tell myself everything is going to be ok.

I often prepare for tomorrow by… packing my bag and making my lunch.

After a long work week, I destress by… hiking, swimming, cycling, having dinner and drinks with loved ones and lying down outside, weather permitting.

The accomplishment I’m most proud of is… I’m really pleased I finished my master’s last year, it was so rewarding. It was a tough time, as I was a bit unlucky with my health and then my parents got sick so I had to defer my thesis to help out. Getting back into the thesis after a year’s break was seriously difficult, but I got there and now all I want to do is another one. I’m dying to teach in a college somewhere, so that’s what I’m aiming for next.

If you want to get into my line of work, my advice is to… go to art college, I guess. It worked for me because I loved it. Although, there are many ways to develop a skill set, and college isn’t everything. It is, however, relatively free in Ireland and studies show people who go to college on average have a better income later in life. The other thing is less teachable I think: there’s a certain kind of nutty, insanely positive mindset that you need to stick to and enjoy making art and setting up your own business, but you might need to be the youngest child in your family to have that one!

I’ve just finished working on my… my master’s thesis about ghosts and haunting in visual art. At the moment I’m working on setting up my studio and workshop space in Clifden for people who want to take print workshops and buy art.

Check out Clare’s artwork at clarehendersontheartist.com, or visit her at her studio at the Station House Courtyard, Galway Road, Clifden.