Suzanne Jackson (born 1944)[2][1] is an American visual artist, gallery owner, poet, educator, and set designer; with a career spanning five decades.

Jackson's oeuvre includes poetry, dance, theater, costume design, paintings (both two- and three-dimensional), prints, and drawings.

Jackson attend San Francisco State University (SFSU), where she studied both art and ballet, eventually receiving a BA degree in painting.

Her feelings about her blackness are expressed in somewhat symbolic terms, and her world of fantasy, love and hope is revealed to the viewer in a very refreshing style… She very well may be the first Black woman in America to make a truly important contribution to art.” -- Joan Ankrum (1/5/1974) [10]In 1981, Jackson was first introduced to Savannah, Georgia, through an invitation to be a visiting artist with Savannah College of Art and Design through the recommendation of Bernie Casey.

Additionally, in 1981, Jackson's work was included in the exhibition “Forever Free: African American Women” which traveled to the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 1987, Jackson relocated to New Haven, Connecticut, to attend Yale University, pursuing a master's degree under the tutelage of Ming Cho Lee for scenography.

She worked as a freelance scenic and costume designer moving throughout the region; until taking a post at St. Mary's College of Maryland as a scenographer and assistant professor from 1994 to 1996.

She uses Novacolor brand acrylic gels to create 3-dimensional hanging works held together by fabric, papers, found objects, leaves, and or various netting.

Jackson graduated from Yale in 1990 and traveled the Northeast region (Connecticut, New York, and Philadelphia) as well as parts of California (Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area) working as a freelance Scenic and Costume Designer.

Jackson's published artist books featuring her poetry and paintings are “Animal,” and “What I Love.” Jackson's poetry and drawings are included in Cave Canem Anthologies; “the ringing ear: Black Poets Lean South,” 2007, I, II, and IV, 1996–99; Avatar 25, 1996; Potomac Review, Winter 1996; In the Valley of the Moon, International Women's Writing Guild, 1994.

[18] Seeking to replicate Jackson's previous experiences of San Francisco bohemianism, Gallery 32 functioned less as a business than as a place for the exchange of ideas and philosophies.

The gallery became an important venue, hosting discussions, poetry readings, and fund-raisers for social causes, and exhibiting work that demonstrated strong political and civic engagement.

[3] It quickly became one of the few art spaces in Los Angeles to exhibit emerging African American artists such as Gloria Bohanon, Emory Douglas, David Hammons, Betye Saar, and Timothy Washington.

Gallery 32 played a vital role in the progressive struggles of the period while contributing to the diverse art scene of Los Angeles.