Valerie McLean is an Artist, Educator, Mentor and Art Writer. She teaches Studio Practice and Visual Culture at Edinburgh College of Art and is Course Leader for a yearlong Painting Course at Leith School of Art. She is a professional member of Visual Arts Scotland.

Working from life, memory, imagination, drawings and photographs her paintings and drawings have roots in diverse landscapes and are concerned with probing the visual and conceptual relationships which emerge in the juxtaposition of opposing pictorial tropes and methods of paint application. Drawing references from 19th century Romanticism and early 20th century Fauvism she brings together the dream like and the everyday and focuses specifically on how the materials of painting, drawing and visual imagery can create worlds where opposing elements, such as order and chaos, abstraction and figuration, dwell together. She often builds up an image from a number of separate panels and thinks of these works as self-portraits where she is able to explore different aspects of herself and her engagement with materials.

Her most recent works are an in-depth exploration of place. In these new pieces spontaneous and abstract elements arise from an improvisational use of materials, colour, mark, and shape alongside more considered and ‘realistically’ rendered forms. She is interested in allowing the work to take its own course, welcoming the unforeseen and unpredictable, while drawing on the felt and observed experiences of spending significant periods of time walking and exploring the natural landscape both near her home, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and further afield. 
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https://www.instagram.com/valmcleanart/

VALERIE MCLEAN graduated in the History of Fine Art and English Language and Literature at Glasgow University before going on to complete a postgraduate qualification in Systems Analysis and Design. After an extensive career teaching computing as a Lecturer and Curriculum Leader at FE level she returned to her first love of art and undertook the Foundation Course at Leith School of Art before studying at Edinburgh College of Art. Here, she received numerous awards for her work including several travel scholarships, the Andrew Grant Bequest Award for painting and The Katherine Michaelson Prize for art writing. Val lives and works in Edinburgh.

Val is passionate about painting, drawing and teaching and is Course Leader for the yearlong One Day Painting course at Leith School of Art where she is also Curriculum Development Lead.  She also teaches art practice and theory across all levels at Edinburgh College of Art.

Working from a studio in her garden Val is currently developing a body of work rooted in specific landscapes and is concerned with interrogating how abstract and figurative elements can come together to create an intriguing and thought provoking sense of place.