Born
1969 Aberdeen, Scotland. Lives and works in Chicago and Bloomington,
Illinois.
Education
1996 M.F.A. Degree, Studio Art, University of Illinois at Chicago
1991 B.F.A. Honours Degree, Painting, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland
Solo Exhibitions
2005 (scheduled)
Shona Macdonald: Drawings, Galerie fuer zeichung, Berlin, Germany
Shona Macdonald: Inscape, Gahlberg Gallery, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL
Shona Macdonald: Inscape, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago IL
2003
Terrain, Julie Baker Fine Art, Grass Valley, CA
2000
Shona Macdonald, Project Room, Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL
1998
Shona Macdonald: New Work, Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL
Two Person Exhibitions
2002
Shona Macdonald/Patrick Magee, Galerie refugium, Berlin, Germany
Shona Macdonald/Molly Briggs, Works on Paper, Riverside Arts Centre, Riverside, IL
Shona Macdonald/LJ Douglas, University of Alberta Art Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
Shona Macdonald/Ray Charles White, Julie Baker Fine Art, Grass Valley, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2005 (scheduled)
Invisible Worlds,Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL
Driven to Abstraction,Suburban Fine Arts Center, Highland Park, IL
Ground Work, d.e.n. contemporary art, LA, CA
2004
New Science Fiction, Lisa Boyle Gallery, Chicago IL
Summer Drawings and Some are Not, Mixture Gallery, Houston TX
Drawing Project: Chicago/London, (organized and curated), The Stray Show,
Chicago IL
Displacement, Gescheildle, Chicago, IL, (Brochure, essay John Brunetti)
Under Run, Dogmatic, Chicago IL
Lazy Days, Julie Baker Fine Art, Grass Valley, CA
2003
PAINTINGS !, Central Michigan University Art Gallery, Mt. Pleasant, MI,
(catalogue, essay, Buzz Spector)
So Square, McLean County Art Centre, Bloomington, IL
Faculty Biennial, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Travelogue, Green Studios, Mineral Point, WI
2002
Topography, Northeastern Illinois University Art Gallery, Chicago, IL (curated by John Brunetti)
Postcards from the Edge, MacLean County Art Centre, Bloomington, IL
2001
Buy the Foot, NIU Gallery, Chicago, IL
Gallery Artists, Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL
Faculty Biennial, Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL
Baker's Dozen, Julie Baker Gallery, Grass Valley, CA
2000
Thin Line, I-Space Gallery, Chicago, IL, (essay, Tim Porges)
Brief Encounters, British Artists Abroad, (BAB), Platform, Melbourne,
Australia
Recycle, McLean County Arts Centre, Bloomington, IL
Surface Tensions, Spaces, Cleveland, Ohio
The Mark Applied, Cardinal Stritch University Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Intonations, ARC Gallery, Chicago IL, (essay by John Brunetti)
Snapshot, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD, (CD-Rom Catalogue)
1999
Thirty times 15" x 15", Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL
Faculty Biennial, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL
Emergence, The Three Arts Club, Chicago, IL, (essay by Stephanie Skestos)
It Looks Easy: A Cross-Section of Painting in Chicago, Gallery 400, Chicago, IL
Otherville, University Gallery, Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL
1998
Link: 22 Painters, Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
Substance: A Corporeal Investigation, NIU Gallery, Chicago, IL, (essay by Julie Charmello)
1997
The Twenty Five Dollar Show, Beret Gallery, Chicago, IL
Works on Paper, Riverside Arts Centre, Chicago, IL
1996
The Fourth Floor, 118 North Peoria, Chicago, IL
Mid-States Annual, Evansville Museum of Arts, Evansville, IN
Summer Group Show, Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, IL
Shona Macdonald/Karen Ruby Brown, Gallery 400, Chicago, IL
1995
South Central, Link Gallery, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL
1993
16th Annual Purchase Award Show, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
Risk, Vergette Gallery, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
1992
Pacesetters, Peterborough Art Gallery, Peterborough, England
1990
Scholarship Exhibition, Hospitalfield Residency, Hospitalfield House, Arbroath, Scotland
1988
Paisley Drawing Competition, Paisley Museum and Art Gallery, Paisley, Scotland
Art Fairs Represented
2004
The Stray Show, (Drawing Project Booth)
2003 and 2004
San Francisco International Art Fair, CA
Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
2003
Affordable Art Fair, NYC
Art Las Vegas, NV
Art Santa Fe, NM
Reviews
2004
Panel House, Review of Den Nya Framtidsvetenskapen, Mary Gustaitis Beyer
2003
Art News, Review of Terrain at Julie Baker Fine Art, by Lindsey Westbrook,
Summer 2003
2002
Chicago Critics on Chicago Art: John Brunetti on Shona Macdonald, Art Chicago 2002, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
Chicago Sun Times, Review of Topography, Margaret Hawkins, April 2002
The Life, Review of Shona Macdonald and Molly Briggs, Rohit Mahajan, Feb 2002
2001
Sacramento Bee, December 2001, review of “Baker’s Dozen,” by Victoria Dalkey
2000
Cleveland Free Times, review of, “Surface Tensions,” by Douglas Max Utter
The Plain Dealer, review of, “Surface Tensions,” by Dan Tranberg
Cleveland Scene, “Surface Tensions,” by Charles Yannopoulos
Chicago Artists News, “Emerging Artists,” by John Brunetti
The Last Five Minutes of Chicago Art History, Lecture on emerging Chicago Artists, Columbia College,
Chicago, by Michael Bulka.
New City, Feb 24th review of, “Thin-Line,” by Anne Wiens
FGA, review of, “Shona Macdonald: Project Space, Fassbender Gallery,” by Julia Marsh
1999
New Art Examiner, review of, “It Looks Easy,” Gallery 400, by John Gustafson
Gravy Volume 5 review of “It Looks Easy,” by Adam Mikos
Awards
Illinois State University Faculty Large Project Grant,Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL, 2002
Nominated, Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award, 2001
Illinois State University Faculty Large Projects Grant, Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL, 2001
CAAP Grant, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, 2000
Illinois State University Faculty Small Projects Grant, Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL, 1999
Drawing Prize, Riverside Arts Centre, Chicago, Illinois, 1997
Jess Halpert Memorial Award, Evansville Museum, Indiana, 1996
R.S. Richard Foundation Award, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1995
Aberdeen Endowments Trust, Aberdeen, Scotland, 1995
Student Purchase Award, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, 1993
Scottish International Educational Trust Scholarship, Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1992
Hart Bursary Award, Glasgow School of Art, 1990
Residencies & Exchanges
2004
Tyrone Guthrie Centre, One-month Residency, County Monaghan, Ireland,
(selected for the Virginia Centre for the Creative Arts, International Artists Residency Programme)
2001
Ragdale Foundation Artists Residency, (awarded Friends Fellowship)
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
1990
Hospitalfield Scholarship and Residency, Hospitalfield House, Arbroath.
Collections
LaSalle Bank, Chicago, IL
Sackner Collection of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Miami Beach, Florida.
Sergio Berger Private Collection, Mexico City, Mexico
Projects
2000
Water: Benefit Auction, Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1999
Weather in Winter in Scotland, Editioned Artists' Book printed by BOPI, Bloomington, IL
Awash, Collaborative Artists' Book with Buzz Spector, WhiteWalls Benefit Auction
Book of Isles, One-of-a-Kind Artists' Book, Fassbender Gallery, 1999
1997
A Drawing Project for Anafidorka: (Independent artist/writer publication), Winter
Studio Assistant to artist Buzz Spector
Teaching Experience
2000-present
Assistant Professor of Art, Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL.
1998-9
Visiting Assistant Professor in Drawing and Painting, Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL.
1996-7
Adjunct Instructor, Illinois Institute of Art, Schaumburg, IL
Adjunct Instructor, Daley Community College & Truman Community College, Chicago
Visiting Artist / Slide Lectures
2004
Visiting Artist, lecture, and critiques, First Year Program, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Visiting Artist, final critiques, Undergraduate Painting, University of Illinois at Chicago
2003
Visiting Artist, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI
Gallery Talk, Julie Baker Fine Art, Grass Valley, CA
Visiting Artist, Painting Area, School of the Art Institute of Chicago,
(Lecture and Critiques; Three day appointment)
2002
Visiting Artist, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, (Final Critiques)
Panelist, Mid-America College Art Association Conference, University ofNebraskaLincoln,
panel arranged by Prof. Julia Morrisroe, Holding on and Letting go: Inter-Disciplinary Art in Education
Northeastern Illinois University Art Gallery, gallery talk, Chicago, IL
Julie Baker Fine Art Gallery, Slide Talk, Grass Valley, CA
University of Calgary, On-site week-long project and public lecture, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
University of Alberta, public lecture, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1998
Washington University - St. Louis, Slide Lecture and Final Painting Reviews
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Guest Artist, Final Reviews
1997
Wimbledon College of Art, London, UK, Visiting Artist/Slide Lecture
University of Illinois at Chicago, Guest Artist, Final Painting Reviews