Landscape art on display
Artist John MacLean’s work will be on show at Studio 306 in White Rock tomorrow.
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Updated: August 20, 2009 2:54 PM
The work of the Group of Seven has been a major influence on the painting of White Rock artist John MacLean, whose paintings will be on show tomorrow (Aug. 22, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.) at Studio 306, 1521 Martin St.
MacLean, who specializes in evocative Canadian landscapes, as well as colourful free-form florals and abstracts, will be on hand throughout the day to tell the stories behind his art and each painting.
Born in a wilderness area north of Edmonton, MacLean had his early education in a one-room country school. When he moved to Saskatoon, his first art teacher was Wynona Mulcaster, who introduced him to the Group of Seven painters – and even had the most famous of them, A.Y. Jackson, give lectures in her class.
It was an influence that had a profound effect on MacLean’s landscapes, but his formative experiences don’t all revolve around Canada.
After experience as a teacher in a country school, he later taught in a teacher-training college in Ghana in West Africa.
During this period he specialized in portraits of African children, but a leave in Europe exposed him to the ideas of the French Impressionists, and gave him a desire to apply their principles to depicting Canada’s rugged landscape.
His work has since impressed such avid collectors of Group of Seven paintings as Dr. Roy Ward, who numbers several MacLean paintings in his collection and has paid the artist the supreme compliment of displaying them alongside paintings by original group members. For more information, call 604-722-2914.
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