Elizabeth Browning Jackson

Elizabeth Browning Jackson studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, the University of New Mexico, and Capella Garden, Sweden, before graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute. With a mother who studied at the Bauhaus under László Moholy-Nagy and a father whose family worked in New England’s textile industry, Jackson’s move from sculpture into furniture and rugs was both natural and inevitable.

Her innovative rug designs of the 1980s moved “art off the wall and put it on the floor,” transforming the conventions of floor coverings “out of the rectangle and into playful spirals, graphic splashes, waves, and geometric forms.” After being introduced to Rick Kaufman and the influential New York gallery Art et Industrie, she was offered a solo exhibition in September 1982.

Jackson’s early furniture and textile works embraced industrial materials—automotive paints and vinyl sourced from Canal Street hardware stores, fiberglass, and acrylic yarns—while her later practice evolved toward minimalist bent steel and richly woven wool. Working entirely through an analog design process, she creates animated compositions that evoke motion and rhythm without the use of rendering software.

Her work has been exhibited widely across the United States and internationally in Paris and Tokyo. Jackson’s pieces are included in numerous private and public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, USA), the Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, USA), and the RISD Museum (Providence, USA). Her work has been featured in Artists Design Furniture by Denise Domergue, early editions of the International Design Yearbook, and in periodicals such as the Financial Times and The New York Times.

Elizabeth Browning Jackson lives and works in Rhode Island.