Gillian became interested in stone whilst researching 18th century Scottish headstones at Glasgow School of Art. Her interest led to an apprenticeship as memorial mason with Matt Bruce of Scott & Rae Monumental Masons in Glasgow and she then continued her education at Weymouth College in Dorset. She established her own business in Perthshire in 1995 and works predominantly in British slate, sandstone and limestone, creating memorials, headstones, lettercutting and stone signage, fireplaces and sculpture. She also teaches courses for the public and trains young stone carvers and lettercutters.
Gillian’s QEST Scholarship enabled her spend four months to improve her model-making, casting and carving at the workshop of the French stonecarver, Marc Chevalier Lacombe.
She was a founding member of the Scottish Lettercutters Association in 2001 and in 2008 she won a JD Fergusson Arts Award Trust Travel Award to travel to Carrara, Italy and learn marble carving.