| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Donna MacLean was born in Toronto, and graduated as valedictorian from Danforth Technical School (1958) where she concentrated in Fine Arts, Commercial Art, and Clay Modelling. After receiving her Instructional Certificate from Quetico Art School in Thunder Bay, ON (1965), she joined the Winnipeg Sketch Club and created advertising portraits for the Hudson’s Bay Company (1960 – 1965). Continuing to advance her skills through courses at the Banff School of Fine Arts (1970 – 1974), MacLean also studied at the Faculty of Extension of the University of Alberta (1965 – 1976) where she later earned her Art Certificate (1982). She then attended the Instituto Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico (1983), and trained in workshops in the US and across Canada while teaching for a range of institutions and workshops.
In addition to participating in several group exhibitions, including Salmagundi at the Medicine Hat Art Gallery and Trees and Flowers at Bowman Arts Centre in Lethbridge, MacLean mounted the travelling solo show Voices of the Land. She designed a plate for the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, and with fellow members of the Medicine Hat Art Club, created a 1.1 m x 7.3 m mural for the Medicine Hat Public Library to celebrate the city’s centennial.
A range of private and corporate collections house MacLean’s work, including those of the Banff School of Fine Arts, the City of Los Angeles, the City of Hokkaido, and the Royal Commonwealth Society in London. |