Claire Kilner, Peak District Artist

What makes someone an artist? Are artists born or made? Am I still an artist when I’m not painting?

I offer no general answers here, as I strongly believe that healthy debate needs many different viewpoints; but maybe the questions will strike a chord with some of you, and maybe spark some interesting (if boundless) discussions.

This particular artist was born to make things, to the puzzlement of the rest of the family. Drawing was a central feature of my life through my childhood and teenage years, culminating in a year at the local art college, to do a foundation course, where I rapidly became disillusioned with the lifestyle, and went off to university to study maths!

One life, many stories. Plan or accident?

I have never really planned my life. The only thing I remember hoping for was not to spend my whole life doing the same thing. Well, I certainly got that bit right! Seizing and running with every opportunity that looked interesting I went from maths student to computer programmer, then to full-time mother, and loving every minute (tiling walls, painting floors and murals while the children were at school, and looking after a menagerie that included goats and chickens!) A bit of interior design work was followed by an abrupt change to maths teaching, and then an even more complete change that saw me relocate from Kent to Derbyshire, where I tried a spell as proofreader and editor before settling on teaching the violin!

And the art? What happened to that? Well, it took a back seat. So far back, in fact, that it was almost out of sight. And yet here I am, with a studio in the garden, biting the bullet after a year of selling work reasonably successfully in Hartington, and building myself a website. Wonders will never cease!