Jilli Blackwood

Leads Public Engagement and Innovation through Art. Jilli is leading the creation of an Art
Installation which shines a spotlight on Facial Trauma and Emotional Domestic Violence by
reinterpreting this via her versatile medium and unique skillset.

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Internationally renowned artist, Jilli Blackwood graduated from the prestigious Glasgow
School of Art in 1986, receiving a first class honours degree and two awards in art and
design.

Her principle medium is textiles and she specialises in embroidered and woven textiles,
however, in recent times she has introduced oil painting to her craft. Jilli’s unique embroidery
technique ‘slash and show’ creates wall hangings and ‘Art to Wear’ and her pieces are held
in numerous museum, corporate, public and private art collections. She has exhibited in both
group and solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Canada, Kuwait and the UK.

Jilli is best known for her ‘Millennium Kilt’ series which was first exhibited in the Victoria &
Albert Museum, London in an exhibition entitled ‘Men in Skirts’. Jilli lent into the circular
economy many years before it became mainstream, breathing new life into vintage kilts and
transforming these into works of art. This series was the inspiration behind her first
appearance on a global stage as Director of Costume for the Flag Handover Ceremony in
the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where she designed the outfits for 350 cast
members in a contemporary embroidered red tartan. In 2014, Jilli was invited to design the
parade uniforms for the Scottish Team at the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth
Games in Glasgow.

She is frequently invited to lecture on her work and was Artist-in-Residence at the National
Museums Scotland in Edinburgh.