Gwiazda, handcut papercutting, 20×20

Gillian Jackson is a papercut artist, designer and fabricator.  Gillian creates papercuttings in the Polish Folk Art tradition wycinanki, functional objects and educational interactive exhibits for the public.  Although the environmental issues facing our planet often feel insurmountable, Jackson creates to ground herself in the things worth saving and make sense of complexity.  Her work makes use of reclaimed materials, open source scientific data, and casting materials.  She is drawn to repetition, symmetry, and multiple layers found in nature, scientific processes and traditional Folk Art.   Thematically, Gillian explores dualities including the industrial and natural worlds; tradition and newness; personal and communal; decorative and functional; handcrafted and machine-made.

Jackson holds a Bachelor’s degree in Health and the Environment from McGill University and a Masters of Industrial Design from Georgia Institute of Technology.  She is a member of the Guild of American Papercutters and has worked professionally as an Exhibit Fabricator for the Smithsonian and the Shedd Aquarium producing artifact mounts, animal habitats, tactile models, replicas and interpretive graphics. Gillian’s work is currently exhibited at Spectrum Gallery in Centerbrook, Connecticut.