Shona Macdonald

Shona Macdonald was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, studied at the Glasgow School of Art and then completed her MFA at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She began teaching at Illinois State University in 1998 as an Assistant Professor and moved to New England in 2006. She has exhibited extensively across the US and Canada, as well as the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. As well as exhibiting her work, Shona has lectured extensively, participated in artist-residencies and workshops, and presented on several panels.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

• Flash of Light Illumines, McDonough Art Museum, Youngstown, OH, 2024 (upcoming)
• Weather Accents, Boundary, Chicago, IL, 2023
• ghosts, darkly, University of North Dakota Memorial Union Gallery, Grand Forks, ND, 2022
• Tenderland, Zillman Art Museum, Bangor, ME, 2021
• Ghosts, Hardesty Art Center, Tulsa OK, 2019
• Terrestrial Vale, Brattleboro Art Museum, VT 2018
• Overcast, College of Southern Nevada, NV 2018
• Sky on Ground, NYPOP, New York, NY 2017
• Ground Covering, Tarble Art Center, Charleston, IL, 2015
• Place-to-Place, Ebersmoore Gallery, Chicago, IL 2012
• Around, Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM, 2011
• Simmer Dim, Engine Room, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, 2010
• Two Northeast, Proof Gallery, Boston, MA, 2009
• Shona Macdonald, Reeves Contemporary, New York, NY, 2008

Selected Two Person + Group Exhibitions

• Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, Bo Bartlett Center for the Arts, Columbus, GA, 2024 (upcoming)
• Moving Outward Incrementally, with Nuala Clarke, Ballina Art Center, Ireland, 2022
• Increments: Barbara Cooper, Shona Macdonald, Yoonshin Park, Ukrainian Museum of Modern Art, Chicago, IL, 2018
• Paperworlds, Spartanburg Art Museum, SC, 2017
• Unearth, Painting Center, New York, NY, 2017
• Histories and Memories, Indiana University East, Richmond, IN, 2017
• Painting and Seeing, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC
• Land Ho!, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA (catalogue)
• Landscape Today and Tomorrow, SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY
• System Preferences, SCA Contemporary, Albuquerque, NM
• Second Nature, Larson Gallery, Broward College, Davie, FL
• Perceptions of Promise: Biotechnology, Society and Art, (catalogue)
• Glenbow Art Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Travelling to:
• McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada Feb – March 2012
• Chelsea Art Museum, NY, NY, Fall 2011
• University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Fall 2012-Spring 2013
• Here There Everywhere, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago IL, (brochure)
• Marks on Paper, Pharmaka, LA, CA, 2007
• The Uncertainty Principle: Drawing in the Golden Age of Worry, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, IL, 2007
• The Lustre of Silver: Contemporary Silverpoint Drawings, Telfair Art Museum, Savannah, GA, 2006
• Into the Midst, Mixture Contemporary, Houston, TX, 2005
• Surface Tensions, Spaces, Cleveland, OH, 2000
• Emergence, The Three Arts Club, Chicago, IL, (brochure), 1999
• It Looks Easy: A Cross-Section of Painting in Chicago, Gallery 400, Chicago, IL, 1999

• Massachusetts Cultural Council Covid Relief Grant, 2023
• Ballinglen Arts Foundation Residency, Ireland, 2018
• University of Massachusetts Faculty Convocation for Outstanding Achievement in Research and Creativity, 2012
• Roswell Artist in Residence, NM, 2010-11
• Pollock Krasner Foundation Fellowship, 2009
• Illinois Arts Council Finalist Award, 2005
• Tyrone Guthrie Centre Artist in Residence, Ireland, 2004

Painting 1, Painting 2, Painting 3, Painting 4, Painting 5
Advanced Drawing, Advanced Drawing Problems
BFA Seminar, MFA Seminar, Special Topics 'Sense of Place' MFA Seminar