Illustrator Anna Currey has never lost touch with her Wexford roots
Despite having lived in Corsham in the UK on and off for over 40 years, illustrator Anna Currey has never lost touch with her Irish roots.
Having illustrated books by one of world’s best loved writers, it may surprise you to know that Anna Currey harks from eccentric beginnings. ‘I didn’t have much schooling after the age of twelve,’ Currey admits when I interview her in a local café. She attended a Church of Ireland school with only about 10 pupils, in County Wexford.
Growing up on a farm, Currey knew from the age of six that she wanted to be an illustrator, and loved sketching the animals.
‘My sister Lucy wrote stories, and I illustrated them,’ Currey says, remembering how she spent her childhood days – mostly playing in trees and riding ponies. ‘I was terribly good at falling off,’ Currey laughs. Horses are a favourite theme for Currey, who is currently working on an equine story. She remembers going to the Horse Fair with her mother, who once purchased Peggy – a good cart-horse, the favourite because of her lovely nature, despite being foolishly afraid of sheep.
‘My father was a clergyman, but later lost his faith – he was ahead of his time,’ Currey remembers the numerous guests who came to visit her unconventional, hippy parents. Despite receiving little schooling, Currey grew up in an intelligent and educational household, meeting people of different religions and absorbing conversations about philosophy and politics.
Meeting her husband, who had come to Ireland for the flax harvest, Currey went to England at the age of twenty and quickly settled into married life. ‘I went straight from my childhood home to my marital home,’ Currey explains. ‘I had children quite quickly – I don’t think it occurred to me to do otherwise!’
Once her daughters had started school, Currey purchased her first Writers and Artists Yearbook to reignite her love of illustration and try to make a career of it. She put pencil to paper, and began scouring the pages for places to submit her work. ‘Give it a year, then find a proper job – that’s what I told myself,’ Currey remembers starting out as an illustrator, and the interviews she attended. ‘One lady – who I could barely see through a thick cloud of cigarette smoke – was unimpressed with my work. She said “There’s nothing here to make us snap you up before someone else does.” That was quite disappointing, but I persisted.’
A later interview that was going much better reached a stumbling block when the editor asked Currey which art school she had been to. Having never studied at an art school, and seeing that this was a makeor-break moment, she lied. ‘I said I’d been to the Bath Academy of Art, and crossed my fingers. They never checked up on it.’
Currey’s talent eventually won her a contract, and the first book she illustrated was Mr Pepino’s Cabbage, published in 1989 and written by Diane Wilmer. Later, Currey went on to write her own stories as well as illustrating them, with her 2006 book The Christmas Unicorn seeing revived popularity in the recent unicorn trend.
One of the highlights of Currey’s career so far has been working with Julia Donaldson, who was the children’s laurate in 2011-2013 and is most famous for The Gruffalo. ‘She was lovely – really friendly and nice,’ Currey says. ‘I’d love to work with her again.’ One Ted Falls Out of Bed (2004) and Rosie’s Hat (2005) are the books that she worked on with Donaldson.
Represented by Jodie Hodges at United Agents, Currey also works part-time for a domiciliary care company. Few illustrators are successful enough to earn a full-time living from it, and Currey has held several part-time jobs over the years. ‘I’ve been a gardener, chef, bookshop assistant… and I was bad at them all!’ Currey, with her typical sense of humour, always sees the funny side.
When asked if she has any advice for budding illustrators, Currey had plenty of gems to offer. ‘You need to develop a rhino hide – thick skin is so important. If you’re asked to change things, be patient and listen to the advice you’re given. And most importantly – always carry a sketchbook!’
This article first appeared in Ireland’s Own magazine