Background
Helen McLean was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1927.
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Helen McLean
Edit ProfileEducation
As a teenager in 1940 she studied under Dorothy Stevens at an art class arranged by the Women"s Art Association. She attended the University of Toronto, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts, and gained an M.A at the University of Calgary.
Career
Helen McLean became an artist, writer, art critic, and teacher. Helen McLean has written two autobiographical books, Sketching from Memory: A Portrait of My Mother (1994) and Details from a Larger Canvas (2001). Her second book describes her struggles against the expectations she had set for herself, or that had been set for a woman by her family or society.
Her 1998 novel Of all the Summers describes the experiences of a woman, Rachel, during different periods of her life.
Rachel is now in mid-life and is rediscovering herself. The lyrical novel recalls her earlier relationships and work.
McLean"s 2003 novel Significant Things was short-listed for the 2004 Commonwealth Writers Prize Best Book Award, Caribbean and Canada Region.
