Valerie McLean

I work with stoneware clay. I am a handbuilder. I live in London and am currently Artist in Residence at UCA Farnham.

My work is inspired by the landscapes of my childhood in the South of France: sleepy villages, crumbling castles overseeing the valley, medieval churches and archaeological sites; the smells of the mountain, the heat from the stones, the language. It formed me but I live away from it. Through my work, I examine questions about identity, searching for roots and connexions, looking at surfaces and finding hidden structures.