Sheila McClean studied at Belfast College of Art from 1956, gaining a Diploma in Fine Art and an Art Teacher's Diploma. She became Head of the Art Department at Thornhill College and St.Brecan's Boys School Derry in Derry.

In 1981 she retired from teaching to paint full-time. She has exhibited at the Gordon Gallery, Derry, the Cavehill Gallery, the Ulster Arts Club in Belfast and the R.H.A. in Dublin. Her work is also in private collections in Ireland, Great Britain, the U.S.A., New Zealand, Australia and Germany.