Jillian Rock

Jillian M Rock is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist based in Philadelphia. Her current personal practice focuses on the exploration of place and placemaking. Specifically, the intersection at which the past, present, and future play on the narratives of Blackness; and how memory is used to illuminate and deepen the human experience. Her teaching artist practice is centered in creating curricula around social justice, identity, and creating an experience that deepens community and encourages expression individually and most importantly collectively.

Rock has been an Artist in Residence at The Museum of Motherhood in St. Pete’s FL, a Feminist in Residence at Project for Empty Space in Newark, NJ, as well as a concurrent Risography Resident at Print St. Pete’s. She is an alumni of the Creative Capital’s Professional Development Program. Rock has served as an inaugural member of the Board of Directors at the Newark Print Shop, where she developed her passion for community programming and outreach through printmaking. Rock is currently teaching with The Print Center, ArtWell, and has been a teaching artist at Studio Montclair, The Newark Printshop, The Yard Art School at The Montclair Museum of Art, as well as freelancing workshops and classes. Most recently, she became the STEAM Coordinator at the Da Vinci Art Alliance.

She is the owner of Rock Press, a Black woman run printing press aimed at amplifying access to the creation and dissemination of artists’ books, printed matter, and programming. As well as, a co-founder of Collaborative Rising, an arts organization centered in providing access to a variety of programming, across all mediums and abilities by nurturing exploration through the arts. Rock is currently a member of Philadelphia Collageworks and a fellow with Mural Arts Fellowship for Black Artists.