Born in 1943 in Whangārei, Jillian Karl completed her Master of Fine Arts (Hons.) in 2001 at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland.

Jillian Karl is an artist whose practice explores the dialogue between architecture and art within perceptual, site-specific environments. Working primarily in a self-made black palette, her paintings embody material depth and quiet intensity. With a career spanning decades, Jillian’s work has been widely exhibited and recognised both in New Zealand and internationally.

Jillian’s practice investigates the ongoing conversation between architecture and art, creating perceptual, site-specific environments that invite reflection and embodied experience. Her process embraces the act of painting itself – grinding her own pigments and working with a distilled black palette that has become her signature.

Her extensive career includes numerous solo, group, and invited exhibitions, with works held in collections both in New Zealand and abroad. Her work has been recognised with several awards, including the National Provident Fund Art Award (1988), the Excellence Award at Artitudes Art 54 Gallery, New York (1989), and the Iris Fisher Award (1990). Jillian has exhibited internationally, including solo and invited exhibitions in Austria, China, and Andorra, and continues to contribute to Sculpt Oneroa on Waiheke Island.