Artist.
Born at Virden in 1935, son of fur farmer George Sterling McLean (1892-1971) and Mary Josephine “Mollie” Armstrong (1901-1980), he began sketching natural subjects at an early age as he accompanied his father on a trapline. He worked as a postal clerk for eight years and he monitored oil wells for 11 years. In 1975, he quit his job and devoted himself entirely to art. Self-taught, inspired by artist Clarence Ingwall Tillenius, he became known for his paintings of landscapes and nature, and his specialty in transferring his paintings to decorative plates. His work was featured on the covers of SIR Sporting Goods catalogues for over 40 years and, in 1967, he painted a 46x5-foot mural of Manitoba landscapes to commemorate the Canadian centenary. In 1990, he opened an art gallery in Virden that sold art prints and giftware. It closed in 2017 when a fire destroyed the neighbouring buildings. He and wife Ethel Smith had a son who also became an artist. He died at Virden on 30 November 2023.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Gabel Building (418 Seventh Avenue South, Virden)
Marriage registration [George Sterling McLean, Mollie Armstrong], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“City’s cultural pursuits pump $$$ into economy,” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 September 1967, page 19.
“A text book for Terry is just another sketch-pad,” Brandon Sun, 11 December 1974, page 22.
Anecdotes and Updates: Virden Centennial 1981 by Empire Publishing Company, 1982, pages 109-111.
“Artist adds wolverine to wildlife gallery,” Winnipeg Free Press, 18 April 2005, page 3.
“Virden artist renowned for paintings depicting Westman,” Brandon Sun, 29 March 2018.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank Terry Johnson for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 1 July 2024
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