Jackson Woolley, a native of Pittsburgh, studied drama at Carnegie-Mellon University before coming to San Diego in 1935 as a member of the original Shakespearean company that opened the Old Globe Theater during the California Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park. He remained in San Diego and became a drama teacher at Francis Parker School where he met art teacher Ellamarie Packard.
Jackson Woolley was born in Pittsburgh in 1910 and studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology where he received his bachelor’s degree in theater in 1930. Trained as a Shakespearean actor, he moved to San Diego in 1935 to perform at the Old Globe Theater. After serving in the army during World War II, Jackson moved with his wife Ellamarie, whom he had married in 1940, to Claremont to pursue studies in art at the Claremont Graduate School. During the course of his studies there in 1946 and 1947, the Woolleys became a central part of the Pomona Valley art community. After returning to San Diego they collaborated in enamel on copper, plexiglas and plastic for the rest of their lives together.
The couple exhibited at the Nationals (1947-1951 and 1954-1956) while they ran their studio in Point Loma. By the early 1970s the Woolleys had made over 5,000 enameled plates, and they were all numbered. The Wooleys did production work commissioned by Gumps of San Francisco which were signed “Woolley Enamels, for Gumps” as well as their studio work signed “Woolley Enamels, California.”
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