I only meant to pop into Poole Museum for a quick nosey with my Dad whilst he was visiting.
Instead, I found myself standing in front of a wall of etchings, thinking deeply about amongst many things, coaching.
Our local museum in the Old Town has been beautifully refurbished, and tucked up on the top floor is a changing exhibition space. This time it was a touring collection of etchings by Lucian Freud – yes, one of Sigmund Freud’s great-grandsons. The whole museum is free to enter, full of curious corners and stories, and this exhibition felt like discovering a secret layer on top.
Etchings and holding up the mirror
The process of etching itself hooked me.
Wax is spread over a copper plate, the artist scratches into it, then the plate is inked and printed. What really grabbed me was that it all has to be created in reverse – the artist has to imagine the subject in mirror form.
In coaching, we often talk about “holding up the mirror”.
We don’t rearrange someone’s life for them; instead, we help them see themselves and their patterns from a slightly different angle. An etching plate, built in reverse, felt like the perfect metaphor for that flipped perspective.
Layers, light, shade – and peeling things back
With etchings, you can keep building.
Layers can be added and removed, meaning that, several images can be created from the same “mould”, bringing different light and shade to the same basic plate.
That’s another coaching parallel for me.
We often start with the same “story” a person has always told about their work or life, and slowly peel back the layers – old beliefs, inherited assumptions, protection strategies – until something new begins to emerge. Same human, same plate, but a completely different image of what’s possible.
Tiny changes, big impact
One detail the exhibition highlighted was how dramatically an image can change with the smallest tweak.
In some of the portraits, a tiny change in the iris of an eye could make it seem as though the person was looking down, left or right. Such a small adjustment, yet it changed how the whole portrait felt in my body as I looked at it.
In coaching, I see this all the time.
A slightly different question, a new word for an old story, a small shift in how someone holds their shoulders or uses their breath – these micro-movements can transform the whole “picture”. It reminded me of the ideas in The Small Big: Small Changes That Spark Big Influence – how subtle shifts in our behaviour and environment can create outsized impact.
The art and science of coaching
I often talk about the art and science of coaching, and this exhibition gave me a deliciously concrete example.
The science is in the materials and methods: copper plates, wax, acids, inks, pressure. In coaching, our science is our training, ethics, supervision, contracting, the evidence base behind the questions we ask.
Then there’s the art.
The art is what we choose to draw out, what we notice, how we respond in the moment. It’s the co-created image that appears between us and the person we’re working with – something that didn’t exist before we sat down together.
“Collaborative closeness”
On the wall was a quote from Marc Balakjian, the master printer who worked closely with Lucian Freud:
“The printer’s ability to get into the mind of the artist is paramount to obtain a collaborative closeness.”
Naturally, my coaching brain couldn’t leave that alone.
I found myself swapping words around:
“The coach’s ability to get into the mind of the person is paramount to obtain a collaborative closeness.”
And then another layer of the metaphor emerged.
Maybe we don’t even need to change “artist” to “person”, because each person we work with is an artist in their own right – continually creating and re-creating themselves through coaching. We’re not “fixing” them. We’re the careful printers, supporting the process, bringing just the right conditions so their image of themselves can come through more clearly.
- Where in your own work – or life – do you feel that “collaborative closeness”?
- What helps you get there?
A favourite image and a little nudge
My favourite piece in the collection was “Girl with Fuzzy Hair” (E.390-2020), a collaboration between Freud and Balakjian. How difficult it must have been to capture the curls. I loved how it held both structure and wildness – cultivated, but not controlled – which is exactly how the best coaching spaces feel to me.
If you’re local to Poole (or fancy a trip*), the exhibition “Lucian Freud’s Etchings: A Creative Collaboration” is at Poole Museum and is free to visit, running until June 2026.
And if this blend of art and coaching sparks something in you, you might enjoy exploring more arts-based approaches in coaching – for example, Coaching Beyond Words, Anna Sheather, or resources on creative coaching practices that bring imagery, metaphor and art right into the conversation.
To leave you with one question:
If your current season of life were an etching, what tiny change in the “plate” might change the whole picture?
*please look me up if you do make a trip!
Sheela Hobden
www.bluegreencoaching.com
March 2026