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.