I won’t get any argument that this year has sucked. The universe really pulled the rug out from under us. Humans are hardwired to lean into a sense of hope, and this year has really tested us. We’re also social animals and we’ve been dealt a doozy regarding that innate impulse. 

I have also had my fair share of personal tragedy this year – I lost both my parents, back-to-back, with hardly any time to catch my breath between bouts of grief. And the years leading up to their passing were some of the most intensely challenging I’ve faced. 

I’ll bypass expounding on the travails, but if anyone needs advice on how managing the lives (and finances, medical care and well-being) of aging parents while maintaining some semblance of sanity, I’m your gal. 

Gratefully, opportunity usually looms on the horizon of heartbreak. Might take a bit to see or reach it, but really, what choice do we have? And in the face of so much loss, I needed a reboot. It was time to rewrite my story. 

I normally don’t share the personal stuff in my professional milieu. But since both facets of my life interlace, it seemed proper to share. 

I left L.A. in the fall of 2020 and relocated to Seattle. I have loved and lived in Los Angeles all my life, but it just didn’t feel like the place to embark on my next chapter. And so far, so good. But the natives warn me, repeatedly, that winter’s a bummer. Fortunately, I’ve got Alaska Airlines. 

My reboot has also given way to a rebrand. I have sifted through what’s worked and what hasn’t, which is something I teach in my visual artist professional development workshops. It was time to follow my own sage advice. Physician heal thyself, as they say.  

What connects the dots in my varied career path has been the curation of experience – whether it’s a public event or exhibition, introducing clients to new art or artists, or lecturing on the Business of Art to visual artists. In my new and improved incarnation, I make individual and collective experience its centerpiece. 

McLean Art Projects will remain the headquarters for my work with visual artists, the professional development lectures and workshops and one-on-one career consultations. AMcE Creative is the umbrella under which I curate pop-up public art exhibitions and produce cultural events. 

Same me at the center, just a little braver and bolder with a larger selection of winter coats. Stay tuned for website shifts and a new Instagram account. 

xx- McLean