Jacqui Oakley builds worlds that Invite the viewer to lose themselves in the intricate ink line-work and sweeps of saturated colour shapes. Her practice stretches between art, illustration, murals and dance.

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:

You can also purchase prints by Jacqui on InPrnt and books and products on Amazon or even better, your local book store.

Awards

Applied Arts — Communication Arts — Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles — American Illustration

Talks

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.

Murals as Ver Sands

Jamie & Jacqui do collaborative work focusing on design, illustration and murals on Ver Sands.

Selected Art Exhibits

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

Client Highlights

Video

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