Evy McLean is a native Texan, growing up in Dallas as the youngest of eight children. As an active, adventurous child and girl scout, Evy spent much time playing outside, climbing trees and exploring the nearby creek. Her mother was an avid gardener who inspired her daughters to inspect, appreciate and marvel at beauty and passed on her love of the natural world. This love and interest in the natural world never waned, and Evy continues to scout her environment for the curious, interesting and often overlooked forms in nature.
As a young teen, Evy began private drawing and painting lessons, with the encouragement and support of her mother, who saw her budding interest in the arts. This led to a scholarship at the Dallas Art Institute, where she completed an Associate Art degree in Advertising Design, earning the President’s award for excellence. Soon after graduation, she began working for a small advertising agency as a production artist and was eventually hired as an art director for a design firm in Dallas, Texas. After long hours and little pay, Evy started her own graphic design business, servicing clients in the Dallas area. Leaving the design field when the industry moved to computer generated art, Evy began teaching drawing and art studies to private school students in the Dallas area. This led her to pursue a bachelor of fine arts degree from Texas Woman’s University, where she graduated summa cum laude, and a full-time teaching career in the arts.
Painting and printmaking are Evy’s choice mediums, and her work is inspired by the natural world and all its wonders. Zooming in on the intricate details of small, curious forms, she enlarges the images to exponential sizes. Notable works are two large micro landscapes, painted in oil on 5′ x 8′ stretched canvas. They were painted for the remodeled Richardson Hall at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado, to evince the San Luis Valley landscape in a unique and intimate way. A more recent painting of the Oregon coastal tide pools, painted for a coastal conservation fundraiser in Portland, Oregon, where Evy now lives, is a testament to the abundant variety of life found in a healthy coastal ecosystem.
Evy’s love of the arts spills over to her community, where she teaches 6-12 art in a local private school and volunteers as a mentor and sponsor for a thriving National Art Honor Society chapter. Painting murals and theater sets, hosting art workshops and face-painting booths at local events are just a few of the engaging art practices of her NAHS members. She believes that art is a healing force that can positively influence and bind a community.