- Jacqueline graduated from the Otago Polytechnic School of Art in 1999 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and was awarded the painting prize for that year with her post-minimalist fibre works.
After graduating she moved to Hahei. While she continued to develop ideas consolidated in her final year in Dunedin, the Coromandel environment was beginning to have an impact on her. She felt driven to paint water, it’s transparent, light carrying and reflective qualities she found intriguing. Threads of past themes echoed through this new work such as surface/depth and seeing through layers. Fluidity and waves of sisal became waves of water and fractione d light contained by the picture plane. Where the paintings are representational of the landscape, they become abstracted in the water. The realist depiction of abstract patterns in nature lead to a realist aesthetic that evolved incidentally but was to influence her work for years to come. This is when Jacqueline started painting full time. She became renowned for seascapes that capture the mesmerising qualities of water. She had a number successful shows at the Upstairs Gallery in Whitianga and was an invited guest artist at The Birds Nest Studio Summer Shows, in Kouaotunu. The success of this work has enabled Jacqueline to work as a full time artist and develop her post-minimalist fibre and light box works.
Drawn to the coast, Jacqueline has worked as an artist in Hahei, Raglan, the Far North, the Kapiti Coast and now Taranaki. She says living around different coastal areas has allowed her to explore seascapes and draw in ideas from their watery environments.
“My fascination with the properties of water, philosophical ideas about water, scientific discoveries about our deep oceans and environmental challenges informs my approach to painting water.”
A multi-faceted artist, Elley explores water and light in varied ways through realist and surrealist paintings and post-minimalist light boxes. She believes each medium enriches the other.
