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Diane Maclean

Fellow of the Royal Society of Sculptors

Diane Maclean is a sculptor and environmental artist. She has exhibited her work widely in the UK and around the globe and many of her sculptures are held in public and private collections.

She works predominantly in stainless steel and light, often on a large scale. In fabricating her structures she has worked with Birch Engineering since 1992. The partnership brings art and engineering together and ensures her imaginative projects are completed to the highest standards of quality and durability. “Deep within us is an affinity with natural things. This can be in conflict with a love of technology, as new discoveries lead us away from contact with nature. In my work, I try to find a balance between the two.”

 

Stainless steel and coloured stainless steel

Echo

An image emerges from the subconscious that takes shape through small drawings and maquettes. The emerging form becomes an equivalent to something in the real world. I saw a Viking horn in the British Museum when I was preparing for an exhibition in the open. I made the sculpture that is a drawing in stainless steel of the horn’s outer shape, a form that calls up the idea of sound. Sound being absent, the viewer can imagine what it would be. The colour of the outer ring, made of coloured stainless steel, is created by natural daylight entering an oxide on the surface which changes when seen from different angles.

Artist statement

Deep within us is an affinity with natural things. This can be in conflict with a love of technology, as new discoveries lead us away from contact with nature. In my work I try to find a balance between the two. Working on a scale compatible with being in the open, I use natural daylight on reflective surfaces and open structures to create strong visual connections to natural surroundings.

Artist CV

Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors

Professional Member of the Society of Scottish Artists

Member of the Court of the University of Hertfordshire

 AWARDS

National Lottery Funding 1996, 1998, 2002 (2 awards), 2003

Scottish Arts Council  Awards 1999 and 2002     ABSA Awards 1996 and  1999

Crerar Award (Visual Arts Scotland) 1999          Art at Work Award 1997

British Council Travel Award 1991 and 1994      Sculpture of the Month, Cass Foundation 2011

MTLE International Public Art award, China 2011

PUBLIC SCULPTURE COMMISSIONS & WORKS IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

2022  Unity sculpture for Hitchin, Herts. 2021/22 (in progress) Dundee Abertay Crescent   

2017 Centre for Medicine, University of Leicester – Renewal

2015  Perth Museum and Art GalleryLumina

2015 Parc Martin Luther King, Paris – Open Book donated by HM The Queen to Paris

2015  University of Stirling – Plume and Wing

2013  Ekeberg Sculpture Park (Ekebergparken), Oslo – Open Book

2012  Keele University – Forest of Light, sculpture commemorating 50th anniversary

2011  Essex County Council, Chelmer Valley  Park & Ride Shoots

         Seabird Centre, North Berwick, short-listed for gateway project

2010  South Leicestershire College – The Wigston Tree

2009  Sacriston, County Durham – The Pulse (Community Development award)

2008  University of Surrey – Triple Ripple  and Spine 3 (2004)

Essex County Court, Chelmsford – Three Rivers

2006  Ipswich – The Tump, Ravenswood – Green Wind

Dollar Academy, Clackmannanshire – Ice Age

2005  University of Hertfordshire.  Mountain

City of Dundee – Dundee DNA

2004  Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, University of Guelph, Ontario – Weather Station

          Littlewoods Head Office, Speke, Liverpool – Colours of Wind

          Boston  – Pescod Square development – Boston Shoal

Harlow – Water Gardens developmentRipple Sculpture

2003  Gainsborough Regeneration – Wind & Tide – (National Lottery funded via Arts Council England)

Cargo 777, Heathrow Airport – commissioned by Hines Air Property – Propeller

Trestle Arts Base, St Albans – Phoenix Rising. (National Lottery funded via Arts Council Eng)

2002  Royal Artillery Museum, Clavell Library – Firepower

 

2002  Xscape Leisure Development, City of Milton Keynes – Xscape

Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, London – Walking

The Square, Stanmore – Vessels – commissioned by J Sainsbury plc & Harrow Heritage

1996  Jesus College, Cambridge – Spine       1996   Dundee Airport – On the Wing

1995  University of Stirling – Shoe

1994  City of Helsinki – Suvi Seppele           1994  Queenswood School, Hatfield – Blue Above

I990  Stansted Airport Time Beam II (now relocated due to airport enlargement)   

RECENT AND UP-COMING SOLO AND 2-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2022  Burghley House, Stamford;  Scottish Ornithological Club, Aberlady

2019  Salisbury Cathedral (solo)

2018  Chichester Cathedral (solo)

2012  Holland Park, London Place of Reflection, (solo)

2011  Killhope Mining Museum, County Durham – Bird (solo)

2008  Singleton Environmental Centre, Ashford –  installations in 3 lightwells  (solo)

2007  Glenmore Forest – Between Two Worlds (with Malcolm Innes) – Forestry Commission

Scotland.  Light and sound interventions in the forest,

2005  Natural History Museum, London.

Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries, Scotland

2004  Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, University of Guelph, Canada

         Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery   Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews

2002  Algarden Gallery, Boras, Sweden (solo)

2001  Museum of Scotland. Large scale projection onto outer wall of Museum (with Su Grierson)

Timespan Museum and Art Gallery, Sutherland, Scotland  (solo)

RECENT SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021/22  Leeds Castle, Kent,  In Bloom and Flora and Fauna

2019  Beaulieu, Hants – sculpture    Marks Hall, Essex – sculpture

2018  Doddington Hall, Lincolnshire – sculpture

2017  Espacio Gallery, London –Threads

2016  Menier Gallery, London – Frida   Summerhall, Edinburgh – Paysage

2014  Botanic Garden, Leicester University – The Visionary landscape;  Newby Hall, Ripon

2013  Charnel House, Spitalfields, selected by RBS       Quenington Open Air exhibition

Ekeberg Sculpture Park, Norway                           Kingsbury Barn, St Albans

Leicester Botanic Gardens, University of Leicester – A Change of Heart

2012  The Grove, Hertfordshire

2011  Stephensons Works, Newcastle upon Tyne – Passengers and Goods

          Meandering Tai Lake, Wuxi, Shenzen, China

2009  Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge;   Aberfoyle, Trossachs (Forestry Commission Scotland)