Jacqui Mair
“In my paintings there is neither ground nor distance nor sky there are colours and the relations between them create space and that’s it.”Raoul Dufy
'My colours are bright, strong and the images are graphic. I utilise positive and negative space inspired by the domestic collections around my house. Be it toys, jugs, birds, fabrics or furniture they are emotional flags, reminders for belonging to a sense of place. The affection for paper as the starting point runs deep, the papers I paste interact, play, fight and their surfaces whether five months, five years, or fifty years old must sit seamlessly together. They are starting points for paintings, there are accidents which are organic and spontaneous. I enjoy the “what if ’’ the permission to get lost, to explore, transforming, layering and changing one element into another, the sense of the unexpected. A new world starts to exist and it’s exactly that way'. Jacqui Mair 2018
Jacqueline Mair studied Fine Art at Bristol Polytechnic UK and gained a first class with honours in printmaking. She went on to take her M.A. in printmaking at the Royal College of Art London. U.K. Jacqueline (Jacqui) was also awarded a French Scholarship to study for three months in Europe and this award started a long working relationship with Marseille, that still continues today. Over the past thirty five years she has combined lecturing at various institutions with her work as an artist. She has exhibited on three continents and has established an international career as an Illustrator and Artist.
Jacqui worked for the worldwide known card company Roger la Borde for over twenty years, and has illustrated numerous award winning children’s books on folk lore with Albion Press, Ebury Press and Cico Books. From 2005 -7 she concentrated on working abroad with Save the Children and UNICEF, running creative print workshops for children in fragile states in Africa, Liberia and Columbia. Her latest collaboration is with M.A.S.K. (Mobile Arts School Kenya) to help ensure art is taught as part of the curriculum.
Jacqui worked in the illustration department at the University of Portsmouth for over ten years raising the standard of professional practice and the international exchange programmes with Mexico City Universidad Iberoamericana and Maryland College of Art USA. She also taught as Senior Associate Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth UK in Fine Art, developing a drawing and print programme for new skills in the first year of the Course. As the Exhibitions Organiser for the School of Art and Design Gallery, she was recognised in 2008 with a Contribution Award, to acknowledge her inspiration in raising the profile of the Gallery and introducing an awareness of curation and exhibition in to the Illustration and Fine Art pathways.
Jacqui Mair's CV
Education
B.A. Honours (Fine Art Printmaking) First Class Bristol Polytechnic UK
Exchange Erasmus Scheme Luminy Art School, Marseille, France
M.A. Printmaking, Royal College of Art
French Government Scholarship Luminy Art School, Marseille, France
Teaching
External Examiner Arts M.A. Illustration
Camberwell School of Art London Institute of the Arts UK 2016 – on going
Professor of Illustration Savannah College of Art and Design 2011 – 2018 (on going in Lacoste France)
External Examiner Glasgow School of Art 2010 -13
Curator and Exhibition Organiser, The Eldon Gallery University of Portsmouth UK 2003 - 2011
University of Portsmouth School of Art and Design Fine Art UK 2007 - 2011
University of Portsmouth School of Art and Design Illustration UK 1996 - 2007
Maryland College of Art Baltimore USA (Visiting Lecturer) 2008
Visiting Lecturer Kingston School of Art Printmaking UK 1989 – 1991
Foundation Studies Programme Portsmouth Polytechnic 1987- 1996 (part time)
Foundation Studies Programme - Falmouth School of Art UK 1981 -1983
Residencies
Art for Kids Portsmouth 2007
The Big Draw London, Campaign for Drawing 2007
Artist in Residence “Building Bridges” Portsmouth High School 2006 – 2007
The Big Draw London, Campaign for Drawing 2007
Art Residencies India, University of Santiniketan, Lalit Akademi 1985 – 1986
Artist in School Port Talbot 1983 – 1984
Commissions and Illustration
2017 Window Commission Simon Harrison Jewellery A/W Collection 2017
2017 Window Commission Maggie Owen Rugby School 450th Anniversary
2013 /16 Red Hot Press 20 / 20 Print Exchange UK
2013 Anthology of Fairy tales Above and Beyond (Bristol Hospital)
2012 Book Publication: DBP Essential Guide to Relaxation kit book Duncan Baird
2013 Private Commission Work UK
Clients include 1989 to present day: Scottish Electricity Board, Daily Mail, Roger La Borde Ltd, Cico Books Ltd UK, French’s Dairy Bloomsbury UK, Financial Times. Orange, Microsoft UK, New Yorker. Cadbury Schweppes. British Rail. Marks and Spencer. Michael Peters Ltd, Barnes and Noble USA, British Film Association. Collins and Brown, Albion Press Ltd. Running Press Ltd, Maggie Owen, Simon Harrison Jewellery UK
Freelance
Cut and Paste Workshop Collage Southsea 2018
Member of Red Hot Press Printmaking Studios Southampton 2012 -
Trustee and Director of Artspace Studios, Portsmouth, Hampshire 2007 - 2011
Speaker Society of Illustrators, Education Symposium 2008, New York
Save the Children Printmaking Workshops with Save the Children in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Columbia April – November 2007
Artistic Consultant for Unicef, Print for Peace Workshops in Tanzania for refugees from Burundi and Congo. 2005
Consultant MASK (Mobile Art School) Kenya
Selected Exhibitions
2017 Southampton City Art Gallery. Red Hot Press Group Show
2016 Hillier’s Romsey UK. Red Hot Press Group Show
2015 – 6 Small Works Gutstein Gallery SCAD Savannah USA
2014 SELECT 2014 Stroud Halliday Mill “Crossing the Pond” UK
2012 Red Hot Press Southampton UK
2011 The First Gallery Southampton UK
2011 Quay Arts Newport UK 'Home', an editioned series of 50 die-cut house shaped books exploring the individual home-based memories of 50 British Illustrators.
2008 Millais Gallery Southampton
2005 The First Gallery Southampton UK
2002 “On dirait la mer ” Marseille France
1998 British Council Mexico City Mexico
1997 Aspex Gallery Portsmouth U.K.
1986 Thumb Gallery London U.K. (Jill George Gallery )
1985 - 6 Touring Exhibition British Council Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, Madras India
1983 Les Arcenaulx Marseille France
Awards
2014 Ambassador Award Savannah College of Art and Design USA
2010 CAAD (centre for research in architecture and design) Symposium and exhibition on Collection University of Portsmouth
2007 - 8 Research Capability Fund University of Portsmouth
1999 British Council Higher Education Mexico
1998 British Council Travel Grant Mexico
1985 Arts Council Retraining Bursary
1985 - 6 British Council Travelling Award
1981 Madame Taussaud’s Drawing Prize