Darla Jackson

Darla Jackson is a sculptor based in Philadelphia, born in 1981. She earned her BFA in Sculpture from Moore College of Art in 2003. In 2011 and 2013, she received the John S. and James L. Knight Arts Challenge Grants, which helped her found the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym, a membership based community sculpture studio. Jackson’s work has been featured in numerous local exhibitions, including at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Seraphin Gallery, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Woodmere Art Museum, and the Fleisher Art Memorial. Her art has also been shown at galleries and museums across the U.S., such as the Norman Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts, Thinkspace Gallery in California, and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts. Internationally, her work has been displayed in Belgium and Germany. Jackson has lectured about her art at various venues, including the Barnes Foundation and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. She has taught sculpture for over 20 years, most recently at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 2024, she began working as a Medallic Artist at the United States Mint, where she sculpts designs for circulating currency, commemorative coin sets, and congressional gold medals.

My sculpture is an exploration of human emotions. In order to express these ideas, I use feelings that are turned into recognizable visual objects, or symbols, and combine them with other elements to create a duality. Through the anthropomorphism of animals, use of strong body language and symbolism, I can convey these emotions and ideas in a way that is more approachable for viewers. The end result is familiarity with an oddness that makes it compelling.

PA