Hope MacLean

Hope MacLean was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1949. She grew up in Toronto and attended the University of Toronto, where she completed a B.A. in Anthropology and Psychology, and a M.A. in Education. Her M.A. thesis was on the education system developed by Methodist missionaries and Ojibwa in Upper Canada, before 1860. She wrote a school kit for the Canadian Association in Support of the Native Peoples, which was later revised and republished by Gage Publishing as Indians, Inuit and Métis of Canada. She also conducted research for government and a variety of not-for-profit organizations. In 1988, she met the Huichol artist Guadalupe de la Cruz Ríos, who introduced her to Huichol shamanism and art. She completed a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Alberta in 1995, with a dissertation on Huichol art and shamanism. She has since published books and articles, including Yarn Paintings of the Huichol and The Shaman's MIrror: Visionary Art of the Huichol. She currently teaches at the University of Ottawa.