Her work makes visual connections between lush patterns, shapes and colours found in our surroundings, cultures, and in our present and past experiences. Now based in Canada, but having had a highly mobile childhood (Bahrain, England, Zambia and Libya), she explores the fleeting connection to memory and how these traces both form identity and belonging and can obscure it. She works in multiple mediums often bringing together emotive intricate ink-work and bold collaged colours. Intangible recollections/impressions of landscapes, flora and fauna entwine and clash creating new surreal forms, connecting to the past and sending roots into the present.
Jacqui’s work has been exhibited in Toronto, Montreal, L.A., San Francisco, Philadelphia, San Diego and Shanghai. She has taught at Toronto’s OCAD University (Ontario College of Art and Design) and Oakville’s Sheridan College and talked at The School of Visual Arts (New York), Method and Madness (AIGA Arizona), Creative Mornings (Toronto), Creative South (Columbus, GA), Louisville Graphic Design Association (Louisville, KY), WMC Fest (Cleveland, Ohio), The Design Exchange (Toronto) and Inspiring the Art (The AGH Design Annex, Hamilton, ON). Her work has been featured in The Dieline, Lovely Package, The Great Discontent and more. Recently she was awarded a recently in Tartu, Estonia with the Nordic Artist Exchange.
Her illustrations have been used by an international roster of clients including The New York Times, Reebok, Penguin Random House, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Time and Amazon. She has received awards from Applied Arts, Communication Arts, Society of Illustrators of LA and American Illustration.
She often collaborates on large scale murals and design jobs with her husband Jamie Lawson under the moniker Ver Sands.
If you’d like to see what she’s up to, keep in touch:
Email: jacqui@jacquioakley.com
Tel: 1 905 379 1688
The Dieline — Lovely Package — Pitch Design Union — The Arty Crowd
Applied Arts — Communication Arts — Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles — American Illustration
Illustration Symposium Talks & Reviews
2015-2024, Sheridan College, Hamilton, ON
Method & Madness / AIGA Arizona
Oct 17-18, 2015, Phoenix, AZ
Inspiring The Art
June 18, 2015, Hamilton, ON
Creative Mornings
April 6, 2015, Toronto, ON
Creative South with Jamie Lawson
April 10-12, 2014, Columbus, GA
Louisville Graphic Design Association
May 23, 2013, Louisville, KY
WMC FEST
Aug 16-18, 2013, Cleveland, OH
DX Salon Night with Marco Cibola
Feb 22, 2012, Toronto, ON.
Jamie & Jacqui do collaborative work focusing on design, illustration and murals on Ver Sands.
Upcoming: TBA / Smokestack Gallery
Hamilton, ON / Mar, 2025
Upcoming: TBA / Cotton Factory Gallery
Hamilton, ON / May, 2025
Wallflowers / BSIDE Gallery
Hamilton, ON / May, 2024
Fun House / Art Gallery of Hamilton
Hamilton, ON / Nov, 2022
Social Snakes & Ladders / BSIDE Gallery
Hamilton, ON / Aug, 2022
100 Paintings / Carnegie Gallery
Dundas, ON / Nov, 2019
Ting Fest / The ARTS Project
London, ON / Apr 17 – May 5, 2018
ICON / Red Bull House of Art
Detroit, MI / Jul 14, 2018
Drowned World / The Assembly
Solo Show as Ver Sands with Jamie Lawson. Hamilton, ON / Aug 2017
Hyakki Yagyo: Night Parade of 100 Demons / Northern Contemporary Gallery
Toronto, ON / Oct 20-31, 2016
20/20 Boundless Brooklyn Tour / Mindzai
Toronto, ON / May, 2015
The Painted Page: Book Illustrations by Jacqui Oakley / The Art Gallery of Hamilton
Design Annex, Hamilton, ON / May – Aug, 2015. — Curated by Melissa Bennet
DOS Show / Evergreen Brick Works
Toronto, ON / July 19, 2013
Fall Classic Art Show / Steam Whistle Brewery
Toronto, ON / Apr 3, 2013
UNO Show / Evergreen Brick Works
Toronto, ON / Apr 13, 2012
Fall Classic Art Show / Smash Gallery
Toronto, ON / Oct 26, 2012
Urbanatomy / New Heights
Shanghai, China / Feb 29, 2008
Prowl Solo Show / Bobbyfive Gallery
Toronto, ON / Aug 12, 2006
The Substance of Style / WMC Fest 2013
King Kong Mural Time-Lapse / Agenda NYC 2013
for Basecamp, with Jamie Lawson
Embrace the Terror / Creative Mornings Talk