Amber Lon Maclean

Artist's Statement:
My scroll paintings are a crossbreed between my studies in traditional Chinese brush painting and my career background in traditional hand drawn cartoon animation. In addition to my ink and commercial illustration, I also paint in acrylics on canvas. My subjects reflect my interest in the cultural and autobiographical, memories, man vs. nature, and social/ political satire.

In 2005 I worked with The Kala Art Institute in Berkeley where I experimented with reproducing my scroll paintings with a large scale digital printing on the Roland digital printer. I reproduced the anti war scroll painting, "Swing Your Partner 'Round and 'Round; The Texas Square Dance" (24' long x 4' wide on Tyvec Paper) where it debuted at Kearny Street Workshop's "Remix" 2005, San Francisco.

...In Spring 2007, I began my first illustrated children's book, "China's Daughters", which will be published in 2008 with PacificView Press.

.Artistic influences include cartoonist Linda Barry, Mort Drucker, Daniel Clowes, Rembrandt's ink drawings, Carl Larsson, and Chinese brushpainter Ch'i Pai-shih (1863-1957)

Selected exhibitions:
The Cartoon Art Museum, San
Francisco 2000,
Kellogg Art Museum Cal Poly
University, Los Angeles "Best
of Ink and Clay" 2003,
Adobe Bookshop Gallery, San
Francisco "The Peace Show"
2003,
Asian American Women Artist
Association Showcase, San
Francisco 2003,
SOEX, "Monster Drawing Rally"
San Francisco 2003, 2004, 2005,
Kearny Street Workshop "Remix,
SoMarts, San Francisco 2004,
UC Davis Gallery, "the
dproject" Davis, CA 2004,
Eastern Oregon University "La
Voix de Femmes" 2006

"Dead wood study on Eagle Creek bank"

"Dustmites, cat hair, with dirt and dander"

Hanging the scroll with a cherry picker, Somarts, SF, CA

Scroll detail

"Chinese broccoli"