Jacqueline Shortland

Jacqueline was born and raised in South East England, and had a successful career in Recruitment which took her from London to Australia and finally to Aberdeen in 1998.

Jacqueline completed a BA (Hons) Fine Art - Sculpture in 2009 as a mature student, becoming the Sculpture Department at Gray's first Graduate in Residence.

Her degree show installation gained her selection to exhibit at the prestigious 'New Contemporaries Exhibition' at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh and she was featured in London's Catlin Guide as a highly promising emerging artist.

Following her degree, Jacqueline turned her attention to socially engaged practice taking on a broad range of community arts projects, supporting and facilitating others to access creative activities.

After the birth of her daughter in 2014, Jacqueline began to concentrate on her own creative practice from a small studio at home, nestled at the edge of the Cairngorm Mountains.  

This began as fascination for hand-building with clay, and quickly evolved into a passion for the endless potential of this material.  She also developed a joy for alternative firing techniques including raku and smoke firing; pushing the material, and herself to their limits.

Her sculpture is inspired by all that it means to be human, but mostly how we connect and relate to ourselves in nature.  She is motivated by the drama of the Cairngorms & the defined seasons that surround her studio, driving her to attempt to reflect the contrasting emotions this evokes through her work.