Sheila McClean, RUA, (13 August 1932 – 5 August 2016) was an Irish painter, whose work was in the

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...

style.

Life and work

Sheila McClean was originally from

Moville Moville (; ) is a coastal town located on the Inishowen Peninsula of County Donegal, Ireland, close to the northern tip of the island of Ireland. It is the first coastal town of the Wild Atlantic Way when starting on the northern end. Location ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and attended

Thornhill College Thornhill College is a Roman Catholic grammar school for girls. Located in Derry, Northern Ireland, it has a student population of approximately 1500 and a staff of 100 teachers. History The nucleus of the present Thornhill College commenced ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. Th ...

, Northern Ireland where she later lived. She painted the land and sea around her. Derek Hill, a great admirer of her work, said, "Her paintings capture the Donegal we all feel in retrospect".

Joseph McWilliams Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...

, PPRUA, said, "Her landscapes are ''painted'' landscapes, her boglands are expressive marks of paint, on richly textured surfaces redolent of bog cotton and dank brown pools..... Her work reflects a deep understanding of both place and paint". Commenting on her most recent one woman exhibition McClean stated:

"Painting for me is a necessary means of self-expression. My desire as a painter is to establish a relationship between intuitive imagery, and a spontaneous method of painting. I try to achieve this, through a combination of economic statements, which are personal rather than purely descriptive and keeping myself aware of the life and integrity of the paint itself."

"Paint is the image. Image is the paint"

Collections

* National Self Portrait Collection,

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

. * Derek Hill Collection,

. * D.F.P (NI Civil Service). * UTV Collection,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

. * The Harverty Trust. *

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

(SDLP) Offices, Belfast. *

UNISON In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or pe ...

Collection, NI & UK.

Commissions

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The stations grew out of imita ...

, St. Pious X Church,

, Co. Donegal. * Belfast Calendar 1991

References

External links

Royal Ulster Academy of ArtsArticle on Recent Exhibition
Belfast Telegraph (Subscription) {{DEFAULTSORT:McClean, Sheila 1932 births 2016 deaths Irish Impressionist painters 20th-century Irish painters 21st-century Irish painters People from County Donegal Irish women painters 20th-century Irish women artists 21st-century Irish women artists Members of the Royal Ulster Academy

Life and work

Collections

Commissions

Further reading

See also

References

External links