Ellis O’Connor recounts her journey since graduating from art school, describing how residencies, travel, and persistence helped her build a sustainable art career. After completing her master’s at Dundee in 2015, she spent nearly a year in Iceland on art residencies, an experience that allowed her to focus fully on her practice and laid the foundation for becoming a self-employed artist. Over time, she built her career through consistency, social media engagement, and global connections with collectors.
She credits her parents for nurturing her creativity. Her father, a creative himself, and her mother, who supported her education and ambitions. Losing her father during her master’s deeply shaped her outlook on life, teaching her the urgency of pursuing what truly matters. She also recalls meeting an inspiring 87-year-old woman named Eleanor Goldstein during a sailing trip in Svalbard, whose courage and curiosity reinforced O’Connor’s belief in living fearlessly. Together, these experiences have driven her to approach both art and life with bravery, gratitude, and a determination to make every moment count.
So I left art school with my master's degree in 2015 from Dundee, and then I traveled for a while. I did a few art residencies, which was amazing, because when I left art school I knew that I wanted to travel as well. It was really important to me, especially after the master's degree—it was very intense and really good, but intense.
So I then went to Iceland for nearly a year to do art residencies, which was such an incredible experience. I think it really got my foot in the door in terms of making it as a career, but also pursuing the art. When you leave art school, there's very much this feeling of, “I guess I'm an artist now,” but then no one really knows your work—it’s very hard to make a living from it.
By going to Iceland and having this art residency experience, I was able to completely immerse myself in my art and where it was going next. I didn’t have any other distractions and I was able to really pursue that. It’s really just grown from there, and that’s meant that I’ve been able to develop a career over the years. Maybe two years after that, I was then able to go fully self-employed with my practice—which has been about eight years now of being solely self-employed with my paintings.
I think it’s just been a series of lots of things that I’ve pursued and worked so hard to get to this point, which I feel really proud of myself for. It doesn’t feel like it was just one thing that happened—it’s been a series of so many things, pursuing this art, not giving up on myself, believing in the art, and knowing that I didn’t have the capacity to do anything else at all.
It’s been an incredible but really difficult journey because it’s a lot of hard work—but inevitably, I would rather do something that gives me the deepest sense of meaning than something that destroys my soul.
One thing that’s noticeable about your profile, particularly on social media—how did that growth happen?
I think the growth with social media has happened very naturally and organically over about ten years. I started sharing my art maybe eight or nine years ago when I began pursuing it more seriously, after art school. I thought, “Okay, I guess I'm an artist now, so I really need to show up and get my work out there.”
I had the audacity to believe in myself and not be scared to take up space and show my work, because inevitably that’s what you have to do—you have to get your work out there as much as possible. It’s been a really natural growth of showing up online and building that audience.
It’s amazing, because it’s grown into an audience of people all around the world who are so supportive of my practice and really resonate with the authenticity of how I show up—what I talk about, my thoughts, and my feelings. It’s probably been about ten years of using social media to grow that audience, and I feel really grateful for the community there because it’s allowed my work to reach collectors worldwide, not just in Scotland.
So yeah, I think it’s just been consistency and not being scared to put my work out there.
In terms of inspirations in my life, there’s been a few. Growing up, my dad was a really big influence—knowing that I had to pursue something I truly loved and not give up on it. My dad was creative as well and always had lots of art history books around. When I was a teenager, I wasn’t that interested in reading them, but his presence as a cheerleader and supporter of my work was incredible.
My mom has always been my biggest supporter too. I feel really grateful to both my parents—when I was in high school, I was so direct and stubborn in knowing that I had to go to art school, and they were always supportive. They only ever encouraged me to do what I loved. My mom even signed me up for art classes at the art school before I was a student there, which helped me grow early on as an artist.
My dad’s no longer here—he passed away when I was halfway through my master’s. Losing him so young and suddenly had a gigantic impact on my life and the way I show up in the world, both personally and through my art. I learned very young that life is temporary and fragile. That loss completely changed me—I realized that I have to take chances and that there’s no point in existing in this world without pursuing what I truly love.
Another influence on my life has been this really cool old lady I met in Svalbard, in the high Arctic. She was 87, named Eleanor Goldstein, and I always tell my friends about her because she’s such a cool person. She was by far the oldest on this really intense sailing trip around the high Arctic in October 2022—it was cold, dark, and far from civilization.
I remember asking her if she’d been nervous about joining the trip, and she said, “Yes, I was terrified—but I’d rather be terrified and do it than be terrified thinking about it in my apartment.” I remember thinking how amazing that was—to see someone older with such passion and curiosity for life. I always want to have that same curiosity.
Being around inspirational older people like that really impacts me. Before losing my dad, I think I had a kind of innocence about life, the idea that “I’ll get around to it someday.” But nothing’s guaranteed. Losing him made me much braver—I take chances now, and if something no longer aligns with who I am, I move on. I’m not scared anymore, because life is so short.
That’s not to say there’s anything positive about losing someone close so young, but it’s definitely been a catalyst. It lit a fire inside me to pursue what I have to do—because there are no guarantees.
