She has not yet finished her MA course, but these stunning works of ceramic art by Bournemouth's Julie Massie, depicting the fragility of the Jurassic coastline have already received international recognition.

Mum-of-three Julie, who lives at at Hengistbury Head, has a long-held passion for art and, after completing a degree, was an art teacher in London and Bournemouth for 24 years.

But when her school decided to develop a sixth form, she felt she needed more training, and an MA in ceramics led to her giving up her teaching career in order to focus on her own artistic dreams.

"I studied ceramics as part of my degree and I just wanted to take it further," explains Julie, 48.

"I wanted to learn more skills, but it's gone off in a conceptual direction rather than a skills-based direction. A masters is about research rather than just basic skills, so I've learnt skills through my research on other artists.

Julie started her MA at the University of Creative Arts in Farnham in 2014 and decided last July to dedicate more time to the course, which finishes this month.

"I really enjoy teaching, but after 24 years, it's nice to have a change," she says.

The work she developed during the course was met with praise from tutors and fellow students, so Julie decided to enter a piece into the prestigious Royal Academy exhibition in London.

An international show dating back hundreds of years, the exhibition has featured works of many famous artists. The number of entries is limited to 12,000 from all over the world, before the judges, known as Royal Academicians, select 4,000 to go to London with their entry. From those, just 1,200 are chosen to exhibit.

"You can submit up to six pieces, but I only submitted one," says Julie, who currently works from the garage space at her home.

"I only found out on May 28, which was not long before it opened. They decide whether you're in or out at the last minute, while they're hanging, so if they don't think it looks right, you're out."

Julie, who was thrilled to be selected for the exhibition, sold her piece for £800 on the first day of viewing, and has already received a further three commissions.

The work on show is titled Fragile Edges, created from individually crafted shards of porcelain, making for a quite stunning effect.

"I wanted to do something based on the coastline, she explains.

"I had a visit to Kimmeridge Bay and was looking at the fragility of the coastline. I like performance art where the audience has to interact. I did quite a bit of research on touch and touch in museums and galleries – whether we were allowed to touch the work or not, and creating work that people had a desire to touch.

"I like making work that people are too afraid to touch because it looks too fragile. That plays on people’s mind. That’s what I’m exploring at the moment."

The RA exhibition runs until August 23, following which Julie will be working on her MA show at the end of the month, then an exhibition at the Menier Gallery in London, before beginning work for Collect, the Craft Council's international art fair for contemporary objects, which takes place at the Saatchi Gallery in London in February.

"I'm hoping to sell my work at my MA show and at Menier - that's the plan," she says, "and I'm hoping to be picked up by galleries and to take on various commissions.

"It is hard work, but when it's enjoyable hard work it's a pleasure."