John McClenaghen

I was born in Falkirk, Scotland.   I am the Grandson of a ploughman and nephew to a shepherd and a Grieve, or farm foreman and my way of looking at my main creative subject the landscape has been informed by being part of a Scottish farming family on my mother’s side. As a child I viewed my world with wonder, I grew up in a town but my uncles remained in farming and I would visit them with my parents which felt like moving between two very different worlds, perhaps heightening my experience of both and providing a way of seeing the world that remained with me into adulthood.   I studied at the Glasgow School of Art, the University of Huddersfield, University of Liverpool and the University of Chester and I was until 2020 Programme Leader for Fine Art in the School of Creative Arts. I then went part time in order to focus more of my time on painting and exhibiting.   I now regularly exhibit and I am currently represented by a number of galleries located throughout the UK including The Russell Gallery, London, Fountain Fine Art, South Wales, Heriot  Gallery , Edinburgh, Morningside Gallery Edinburgh, The Lemond Gallery, Glasgow, Fidra Fine Art, East Lothian and Eion Stewart Fine Art, Aberdeenshire .   I also write about art practice with book chapters recently published by Q-Art and Black Dog, London and have presented papers on painting at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester and to the National Association for Fine Art Education.