Daria (Lewis) McClelland grew up in suburban Detroit, the daughter of an architect and a printmaker. She attended the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia from 1988-1992, majoring in photography with an art history minor.

In the year following art school, Daria taught photography in the upper school at the Savannah Country Day School. Her students exhibited work in Savannah and Atlanta. Her own photographs were published nationally and exhibited in Georgia and in Michigan.

In 1994 she moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and attended the University of New Mexico for a Masters in Art Education and K-12 teaching licensure. Her studio focus in graduate school shifted to an interest in ceramics, especially Japanese porcelain and the work of Sensei Manji Inuoe of Arita, Japan.

While in her final year of graduate school she wrote a case study about the Bauhaus trained artist and art educator Friedl Dicker Brandeis, who taught clandestine art lessons to children while imprisoned in the Jewish prison camp of Terezin in the 1940's. Dicker-Brandeis, who died in the prison camp, recognized the children's need to process the grief, violence and fear surrounding them in the camp and provided secret art lessons for them as a release. As part of Daria's research, she travelled to Vienna, Austria and the Terezin Prison Camp in the Czech Republic to photograph the buildings associated with Dicker-Brandeis' life and service.

Daria then moved to Austin, Texas to teach elementary art for the Round Rock Independent School District in 1999, and enjoyed 7 years of service at the elementary and secondary levels. One of Daria's second grade students was recognized district wide by having his artwork selected for the 2001 Youth Art Month t-shirt for RRISD. In 2005, twelve of Daria's elementary students at Purple Sage Elementary had the honor of having their artwork published in the 8th edition of Emphasis Art by Frank Wachowiak, edited by Robert Clements.

As an educator, Daria is especially inspired by Carol Dweck's Mindsets research, Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Love and Logic strategies for the classroom, the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, The Ron Clark Academy, and Ms. Frizzle of Magic School Bus fame.

Daria, her husband, and two children currently reside in Apex, North Carolina.