Valerie McLean
My work is inspired by the mediterranean landscapes of my childhood: stone villages, crumbling castles, medieval churches and archaeological sites. I am curious about the lives witnessed by these old walls, the stories sometimes left untold, sometimes pieced back together from fragments.
The past shapes our perception of the present in ways unseen, through the landscapes we grew in, the languages we practice, the stories we learn. My ceramic pieces are an exploration about cultural identity, searching for roots and connexions, looking at surfaces and finding hidden structures.