About
A. McLean Emenegger
A passionate art and artist advocate, seasoned curator and art administrator, McLean established a strong voice and decades-long active leadership role in the Los Angeles art scene. While remaining closely tied to the Los Angeles art world, she relocated to Seattle, WA in the fall of 2020.
McLean’s professional experience includes the non- and for-profit art sectors. She was Executive Director of the Gallery 825/Los Angeles Art Association, a nonprofit supporting visual artists through exhibition and educational opportunity. During her tenure, she significantly expanded the organization’s mission and influence, and her programs received unprecedented public and critical acclaim. She also worked in the curatorial department at the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA where she co-curated Ascending Dragon: Contemporary Vietnamese Artists.
In 2004, McLean established her own art consulting and visual artist career support firm McLean Fine Art, which she rebranded as McLean Art Projects in 2011. She also helped found Bandini Art Gallery, Culver City, CA and curated many of their critically recognized exhibitions.
As an independent curator, McLean’s exhibitions have been reviewed in Los Angeles Times, Artweek, Artscene, Review Magazine and Huffington Post. Her exhibition, Welcome to LA/Please Come Again, at Los Angeles World Airports at LAX was featured on KCET’s Artbound and KPPC radio’s Take Two.
McLean’s own art reviews and artist interviews have appeared in multiple publications. She’s been interviewed on radio, television and in print and maintains an active public speaking schedule. McLean has presented her visual artist professional development classes through the Annenberg Space for Photography, College Art Association, National Arts Marketing Project, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, California Lawyers for the Arts, Center for Cultural Innovation among many others.
In June 2021, McLean launched her first brick-and-mortar gallery AMcE Creative Arts (AMcE) in the Seattle neighborhood of Capitol Hill. More than an art gallery, AMcE is a cultural and community gathering place dedicated to sharing and growing ideas and experiences through fine art exhibitions, cultural programming and arts education. AMcE’s programs are designed to foster community engagement and inspiration through unique exchanges with contemporary visual artists and makers of varying media, as well as through partnerships with like-minded art agencies and nonprofits.
McLean is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY.
See Ms. Emenegger’s CV here. Lectures and exhibitions here.
Homepage images: Paco Pomet, courtesy Richard Heller Gallery; Sandeep Mukherjee; Kim Keever, courtesy the artist; Stas Orlovski, courtesy the artist; Christine Nguyen, courtesy the artist; Gegam Kacherian, courtesy the artist.