Jean Gallagher coordinates the painting and drawing area of the Art and Art History Department of California State University in Chico. Her prior experience includes positions as Assistant Dean at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, and Chair of the Art Department at Converse College and as an Assistant Professor in the Art Department of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She holds a Doctor of Arts from New York University as well as a MFA and BFA from the University of South Carolina.

Gallagher has shown her work in New York at P.S.1, the Alternative Museum, Henry Street Settlement and Rochester’s Pyramid Art Center. Exhibitions in the southeast include Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Columbia Museum of Art, and Spirit Square Center for the Arts, as well as other gallery venues. In the west, her work has been viewed at the Huntington Museum of Art, Redding Museum of Art, Works/San Jose, Santa Monica’s HIGHWAYS, Gallery Iolani in Oahu as well as numerous university, commercial galleries and alternative spaces in California and New Mexico. Internationally, she has shown her work in Germany at the Kleine Gallery in Chemnitz.

She has been a recipient of funding from the National Endowment of the Arts, Hawaii’s State Foundation of Culture and Arts as well as the South Carolina and California Arts Commissions. Her work has been reviewed in over thirty publications and featured in Frank Popper’s 1997 book: Art of the Electronic Age (Thames and Hudson) and Lon Scheinning's 2003 book: Treasure Chests: The Legacy of Extraordinary Boxes (Taunton Press).

Recent exhibitions include a group show at the Gallery, Filoli Gardens, and Woodside, CA.

Upcoming exhibitions include:
- A two-person exhibition with Karen Westheimer at the Trinity Gallery, California State University-Chico, Chico CA (September-October 2010; Opening Reception: September 1, 5-7pm),
- A solo show at the Barton Gallery, Sacramento, CA (November 2010) and
- A two-person show at the Museo Italo-Americano, San Francisco, CA with Joseph Oddo (October 2012).
*A tentative future group show is planned for the Lobby Gallery (Durst Foundation), NY, NY.