A New LifeCiara Horan is dedicating her career to that of an artist/photographer - at last. Tony Clayton-Leareports
All good things come to those who wait, except in the case of 33-year-old Ciara Horan, a former data manager, at the trials unit of St Luke's Hospital. She has had to wait slightly longer than usual.
In the past eight years, artist/photographer Horan has worked at St Luke's on four separate occasions - twice to cover maternity leave, once when she was offered an interview for data manager, trials unit, and once when asked to train someone into her data-manager job.
Last October, Horan left the hospital for the final time.
Prior to St Luke's, Horan's employment record was here and there. Despite having a strong, instinctual interest in art and photography, she trained as a Montessori teacher, but shortly after completing her course decided against following it up as a career.
"I knew I didn't want to teach and also that I didn't have the right experience. I subsequently worked in the Racing Board, covering maternity leave, but the woman never came back and I was asked to stay on. After two years, in or around 2000, I left there to set up as a photographer."
What aims did she have when she originally left work to start up as a photographer? Sadly, success, fame and money would have to wait, but fairly quickly Horan discovered something of a niche - home photography.
"I discovered that many people found it difficult to get the entire family to a city centre photographic studio. Having done a few photos of friends and family, I noticed that kids are much happier in their own houses getting their picture taken - and they love to be involved in the setting up of equipment.
"Bringing a child into a sterile studio to essentially perform isn't necessarily the way to do it, whereas in their own home you can start chatting and playing, and by the time they're in front of the camera they're totally ready to perform."
To capitalise on the venture, Horan bought a portable studio, only to hit something of a slump in clients. With a credit-card bill needing to be paid, Horan started temping. "I was sent up to St Luke's for six weeks, working with the then medical director. Then I was asked to stay for six months. I had started painting again by that time, but the need to pay bills overrode the creative side of me."
Horan's duties as data manager included setting up databases for the different trials, keeping logs of trial information, making sure it was transferred correctly from charts and making forms for the charts.
Was there an imbalance in her work as data manager and her passion for art?
"To a degree, there was," she says. "In my own head I had it that Luke's was an interim thing, and that was because I knew deep down I had always wanted to paint. Essentially, the type of job wasn't as creatively fulfilling as I wanted.
"When I came home from work I was drained by the day and just wasn't in the mood to paint. Yet when I did paint I discovered I needed to do more of it. I miss the people at St Luke's, but the job just wasn't for me. I fell into the job, and that was the difference."
Horan may have left work, but work hasn't left her. Since leaving St Luke's, she has been busy setting herself up as an artist/photographer. Through several years of word of mouth, she does photographic work at weddings and birthday parties (one of her pre-leaving gigs two years ago was as official photographer at Trainspottingauthor Irvine Welsh's wedding - "it was one of my favourite weddings to shoot, nine bridesmaids, 15 groomsmen") and has sold a few of her paintings at Moxley's Fine Art Gallery in Kenmare, Co Kerry.
She paints from her own photographs, shots taken mainly in the West of Ireland and, more recently, in Kerry. Her painting throughput is about one canvas a week.
"I'm terrible with finishing them off, which I know is a natural trait for artists. Once I put my signature on them, though, I know I shouldn't go back to it."
For Horan, this year is both groundwork and consolidation. "I'm working an awful lot, and aim to paint every day. You have to be in the mood, though, and if for some reason I'm not then I sift through my photo library. I'm constantly busy with this particular aspect - I have 3,000 black and white negatives to scan in, and I'm in the process of setting up a website, so I'll be busy for quite a while."
Alongside her art and photography work Horan has recently designed postcards and greeting cards. How are these doing? "I got a few done up just to see what they look like, so initially I gave them to friends to pass along.
"Commercially, it might be something to look into, but for the moment, it's a marketing/advertising tool.
"And, of course, I also gave them to my mother - she'll definitely make sure as many people as possible get them."
An exhibition of Ciara Horan's work opens from February 23rd at the Brazen Head, 20 Lower Bridge Street, Dublin 8 (01-6795186). She is contactable via e-mail at ciarahoran@mac.com