Paula Gillen earned a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1978 and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1984. Her artwork is an exploration of digital montage, paper collage and photography, focusing on psychology, social commentary and humorous disruptions of original and found imagery. Influenced by Surrealism, Feminism and the Pictures Generation, her work is satirical, irreverent and playful. Gillen worked for major publications as a photo editor and researcher in New York City for 20 years before moving to Boulder, Colorado, in 2008.