Fiber artist Jan Jackson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from SUNY Geneseo in 1974 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in fiber arts from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.
She was a lecturer in the Department of Art at the State University of New York at Geneseo, where she also served as gallery director for the Bertha V. B. Lederer Gallery. In addition, she was an adjunct professor of textiles at the Rochester Institute of Technology. From 1978 to 1980, Jackson was a fiber arts instructor at Arizona State University in Tempe.
Jackson exhibited two works in the Burchfield Art Center's biennial, Craft Art from Western New York 1992. In an artist's statement she wrote:
My art is about color and illusion. This movement of color through one of its systems—hue, value or intensity—combined with simple geometrics, is used to produce exciting spatial illusions. The double weave technique which I use allows me to make optimum use of the color play between warp and weft. Like pointillism, the viewer’s eye visually mixes the colors in the warp and weft producing optical illusions of color identity.
I am currently experimenting with the creation of pattern through color change combined with thread ratio. This allows for an exciting array of patterns to develop within a single piece.