Meet BFA ’06 grad Jacquelin Connelly: Creative entrepreneurship



Even the smallest, most common objects carry cultural meaning in Jacquelin’s work.

Jacquelin Connelly graduated from UBC’s BFA program in May of 2006.  Studying photography, sculpture and print, primarily under Barbara Zeigler and Gu Xiong in her final year of the program, she also worked in the Printmedia Research Centre’s Digital Lab assisting other students with the digital and printing aspects of their projects, and working closely with Gu Xiong and the Department.  Jacquelin was the Student Representative throughout the 2005/2006 academic year for her graduating class and their exhibition in April 2006 at International Village, Vancouver.  She also completed UBC’s Arts Co-op program throughout her degree, having been employed at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at UBC and the MS Society of Canada, all of which greatly increased her drive, and offered clarity to her long term goals.

Jacquelin is actively pursuing the role of a visual artist, having been accepted by the jury of the North Vancouver Community Arts Council for her first off-campus exhibition opening January 25, 2007 at the CityScape Community Art Space along with a fellow graduate, Shawna Muhic. “Here I explore identity, both as a theme and an ideal, investigating the way in which a simple, commonplace materials may represent aspects of culture and experience that are crucial to the formation of individual identity, reflecting on my own past as well as past generations,” says the recent graduate. In addition to continually experimenting with various materials, she is working on a photo-based body of work titled Fenestration, in which she captures unmarked doors and windows that depict an entropic quality of architecture from various cities throughout her travels as an exploration of the borders we build between our public and private spaces, and the visual delineation between my transitory nature as a visitor and the static roots of the residents.

In addition, Jacquelin used her artistic drive and creative talent to attain a photography position with a Vancouver-based company, in which she currently travels across the United States to photograph hotels in a wide variety of cities. Finally, she is learning to lead the life of an entrepreneur through the promotion of her local photography business, Jacquelin Connelly Creative. Many of her photographs and artwork can be seen on her website.