American painter. Throughout Jackson's childhood he was a regular at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh and won his first award for art in a juried exhibition there in 1962, as a teenager. He received his undergraduate degree from Davidson College in 1967 and three years later he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1969, while finishing up his graduate studies, Jackson began teaching at Davidson. He soon became the chair of the art department which he held for 16 years. He retired from teaching in 2011.

Jackson has had over 150 solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. He was included in the first exhibition of contemporary American art in the former Soviet Union and his work is in over 100 museums. He received the prestigious North Carolina Award by the State Governor. His paintings are built up in hundreds of layers and then scraped off as they are applied.