Margot McLean was born in Tokyo, Japan.  She received a BFA in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia (1974) and a MFA in painting from Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York (1977). 

She has exhibited in the US, Ireland and Italy, including: ev+a  2007, “A Sense of Place”, Limerick, Ireland, 2007; “catching light, migrations, water flow, extinctions . . . ,” La Specola Natural History Museum, Florence, Italy, 2004: “Studies on the Nature of Things,” Galleria Falteri, Florence, Italy, 2004: “Margot McLean: Artworks 1990-2002,” Galleria Falteri, Florence, Italy, 2002: “Plant and Animal Re-Located, Paintings as Contemplative Icons,”Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY  1998: “Plants, Animals, Habitat,” Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York, NY 1997: “The University of Delaware Biennial,”Newark, Delaware, 1994:  “Artists of Conscience,” Alternative Museum, New York, NY, 1991: “Metaphorical Forest,” Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 1989: “New York, New Venue,” Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, 1987:”Endangered Species,” Alternative Museum, New York, NY, 1985: “Silent Partings,” Art City, New York, NY, 1985.

A book of her work was published in the series Ritratti d’Artista by Vitali & Moretti, Bergamo, Italy, 2002.  Other publications include: “Memorial Mapping of the Land: Materiality in the Work of Margot McLean” in Earth-Mapping: Artists Reshaping Landscape by Edward S. Casey, 2005; “Elusive Spirit,” Suzi Gablik, Resurgence, 2003; Margot McLean, Artworks 1990-2002, Galeria Falteri, 2002;  “Art and Environment, or Look Here,” Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity, United Nations Environment Program, 1999; Dream Animals, with James Hillman, Chronicle Books, 1998.

She has taught and lectured in the United States, the UK and Japan.  She received a New York Foundation for the Arts grant, New York State, 1982: was artist-in-residence Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA, 1995: and received a Nathan Cummings Foundation Grant for organizing the conference “Visual Art and the Environment,” 1996.  She was instrumental in the activities of a group of artists, philosophers, biologists, writers, teachers and environmental activists in an ongoing project to investigate ideas under the title of “The Human Place in the Natural World.”

Permanent collections include: La Specola Natural History Museum, Florence, Italy; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center, New York, NY; Public Securities Association, Wall St., New York, NY.