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“I’m not the expert of your life. You are.” An interview with Holly Davey, Visual Artists and Leadership Coach
Interview: Jeanie Scott for Coaching for Creatives, January 2021 |
Hi Holly, can you tell me a little about yourself?
I’m a visual artist and a professional leadership coach based in Cardiff. I’m in my studio three days a week preparing for exhibitions and commissions, and I coach artists and creatives two days a week – usually in person, but since March 2020 my coaching business has transferred online. I’m also a visiting tutor at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
How did you come to coaching?
I was a part-time university lecturer for ten years. I was really interested in developing a mentoring approach with my students to help them build confidence in making the transition from academia into the workplace. I took a mentoring skills course, and through that I was introduced to coaching for the first time and the work of Carl Rogers.
It was a revelation. I just felt “This is me! This is what I do!”. It really reflected how I wanted to work, and the kind of conversations I wanted to have with my students. So, in 2017 I trained as an RD1st coach and spent the next year or so building up my coaching practice. In 2019 I stepped away from teaching and coaching became my main income stream.
Coaching definitely gave me the confidence to make that step, as well as new ambition for my practice. I did a British School at Rome Fellowship in 2019 and I am starting a PhD at the Slade school of Art in Autumn 2021.
Tell me about your coaching practice
I take all the principles of RD1st’s and Carl Roger’s person-centered, user-led approach and apply that in creative environments. I work mainly with artists who come to me direct, or through associate or membership organisations like Spike Island, Bristol; CAMP, Plymouth; and g39, Cardiff. I’ve recently finished Action Learning Set Facilitator training which means I can now provide coaching for groups of artists and creatives together which I’m really excited about.
The ethos of coaching is it’s all about the coachee and what works for them. I’m not there to advise or tell them what they should do, I’m there to walk alongside. It’s incredibly powerful and rewarding to see someone’s own thinking transform around an issue over two or three sessions.
What benefits from coaching do you most see in your clients?
I see the benefits for the artists and creatives I work with every day.
In their artistic practice, the main benefit comes through helping them build confidence in their own work, and to be able to make ambitious ideas happen. Professionally, I see it helping them find a direction of travel for their career or taking steps to be more visible and build the contacts they need.
Time management is a recurring theme! Juggling a portfolio career is difficult at the best of times, and it just got so much harder during the pandemic. Having the time and thinking space to hold on to the threads of being an artist, and to create a new framework for making work has become really important.
I’m a visual artist and a professional leadership coach based in Cardiff. I’m in my studio three days a week preparing for exhibitions and commissions, and I coach artists and creatives two days a week – usually in person, but since March 2020 my coaching business has transferred online. I’m also a visiting tutor at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
How did you come to coaching?
I was a part-time university lecturer for ten years. I was really interested in developing a mentoring approach with my students to help them build confidence in making the transition from academia into the workplace. I took a mentoring skills course, and through that I was introduced to coaching for the first time and the work of Carl Rogers.
It was a revelation. I just felt “This is me! This is what I do!”. It really reflected how I wanted to work, and the kind of conversations I wanted to have with my students. So, in 2017 I trained as an RD1st coach and spent the next year or so building up my coaching practice. In 2019 I stepped away from teaching and coaching became my main income stream.
Coaching definitely gave me the confidence to make that step, as well as new ambition for my practice. I did a British School at Rome Fellowship in 2019 and I am starting a PhD at the Slade school of Art in Autumn 2021.
Tell me about your coaching practice
I take all the principles of RD1st’s and Carl Roger’s person-centered, user-led approach and apply that in creative environments. I work mainly with artists who come to me direct, or through associate or membership organisations like Spike Island, Bristol; CAMP, Plymouth; and g39, Cardiff. I’ve recently finished Action Learning Set Facilitator training which means I can now provide coaching for groups of artists and creatives together which I’m really excited about.
The ethos of coaching is it’s all about the coachee and what works for them. I’m not there to advise or tell them what they should do, I’m there to walk alongside. It’s incredibly powerful and rewarding to see someone’s own thinking transform around an issue over two or three sessions.
What benefits from coaching do you most see in your clients?
I see the benefits for the artists and creatives I work with every day.
In their artistic practice, the main benefit comes through helping them build confidence in their own work, and to be able to make ambitious ideas happen. Professionally, I see it helping them find a direction of travel for their career or taking steps to be more visible and build the contacts they need.
Time management is a recurring theme! Juggling a portfolio career is difficult at the best of times, and it just got so much harder during the pandemic. Having the time and thinking space to hold on to the threads of being an artist, and to create a new framework for making work has become really important.
Would you recommend training to be a coach to other creative freelancers?
The sector needs coaching in so many ways now. I find it really rewarding to be working with and sharing these skills with my network – I’d really encourage creatives to put themselves forward for the training.
There is so much to be supported right now, so much transition for people to negotiate. Coaches are there to help people ask and answer the really big questions, you know, “How do we want this work environment to operate now?”, “How do we support each other through this? How do we manage this transition together?”.
Holly Davey Coaching
www.hollydavey.com
The sector needs coaching in so many ways now. I find it really rewarding to be working with and sharing these skills with my network – I’d really encourage creatives to put themselves forward for the training.
There is so much to be supported right now, so much transition for people to negotiate. Coaches are there to help people ask and answer the really big questions, you know, “How do we want this work environment to operate now?”, “How do we support each other through this? How do we manage this transition together?”.
Holly Davey Coaching
www.hollydavey.com