Four works of art by Gillian Probert ’23 on display at Duncan McClellan Gallery, where Probert is now the curator. Photo by Madison DeVore ’25
“I feel like I’ve lived 100 different lives,” says Gillian Probert ’23, a multimedia artist who graduated from Eckerd with degrees in visual arts and management.
By 20 years old, Probert had opened her own henna tattoo business. Her mobile operation sat on beaches and outside carnivals in San Diego, her hometown, over summers there. Probert calls herself a “serial hobbyist,” having tried skydiving, rock climbing and playing the standing harp.
“At Eckerd, I really made a strong, conscious effort to not limit myself to just art or just business,” she says.
As an Eckerd student, she learned to sail and tried things that didn’t fit her own image of herself. She realized that there’s no reason to limit herself to this preconceived vision.
Probert is now the curator at Duncan McClellan Gallery, where she’s developed her practice in blown and carved glass. In 2026, she was selected as one of the Morean Arts Center’s Fresh Squeezed 10: Emerging Artists for her glass vessels, which explore animal mimicry through a surreal lens.
Gillian Probert poses for a portrait with some of her artistic creations. Photo courtesy of Gillian Probert.
She founded the Artists for Impact collegiate chapter at Eckerd, which creates opportunities for emerging artists while raising funds for local nonprofits. In 2023, she launched her art business Moonlit Creations.
When Probert came to Eckerd, she was not planning to add business management to her studies. Her mentor, Associate Professor of Management Jennifer Miner Knippen, Ph.D., told Probert she has a mind for business and encouraged her to try it. Knippen assured her the double major would be easy.
This piece by Gillian Probert is titled Keepers of the Night. Photo by Madison DeVore ’25
“This is the only time she’s ever lied to me,” Probert jokes about Knippen.
She double majored—but it wasn’t so easy, Probert says.
Being an artist has always been in the cards for Probert. As a kid, she drew caricatures at her sister’s soccer games. She had a booth on the beach and made Play-Doh pencil toppers, selling them for around one dollar. At the end of the day, she had enough money to buy a snow cone.
“I’ve always just had the drive to do that. But there was a while where people just kept telling me, ‘oh, being an artist is hard,’” she says. “Never my parents, actually. My parents were very supportive.”
Her parents, who both work in the accounting industry, bought Probert her first easel when she was 10 years old. She remembers always having art supplies, whether it was paint or sandstone to chip into.
“There was a time where I thought I wanted to be a lawyer, which I hear from a lot of artists,” Probert says.
Though it sounds counterintuitive, she says there’s a parallel between the creative spirit and problem-solving. However, Probert is not interested in the competitive nature of law.
A photo from inside Duncan McLellan Gallery in Saint Petersburg, where Gillian Probert trains in glassblowing and carving, curates exhibits, and acts as operations and development coordinator. Photo by Madison DeVore ’25
Though not every artist has a direct path from college to career, she says, she has a simple suggestion: show up to the places you want to be.
“I did also get offered jobs at other locations too, that I wasn’t even applying for. I just kept showing up,” Probert says.
Some of Probert’s recent work was displayed at the FloridaRAMA Gallery. She exhibited the first glass vessel she blew herself. Probert used colored resin to depict a tiger’s face and a small hidden butterfly.
She draws much of her inspiration from nature, even gathering natural materials to create art. SWARM is her installation with over 300 real honey bees encased in clear resin and suspended from gold wire. The project began in 2022 when she noticed the number of dead bees she came across in daily life and she asked herself what this meant for bee populations. The original installation was a part of her thesis at Eckerd and now she has raised money for The Nature Conservancy through SWARM.
Probert recalls the experiences she has had across mediums of her work. As a henna tattoo artist in San Diego, she had intense conversations.
One woman’s husband had recently passed away, and they had long planned to get matching tattoos. She wanted to get a henna tattoo of what she and her husband planned to get, and it became an emotional session, Probert says. She once had a private house appointment with a woman who had a double mastectomy due to cancer. Probert drew flowers across her chest.
While Probert has explored a wide range of art mediums and business ventures, some things have remained the same since she was a child. She has always been a “do-er.” She has always been internally motivated.
“I think, also, as an artist that’s going to lead you to great places, because theory only gets you so far,” she says.
