Handmade jewelry artist Jeannine McKenzie joins Red Elephant Gallery

Red Elephant Gallery is thrilled to add Jeannine McKenzie to their handmade jewelry collection! Jeannine has been a jeweler for more than 32 years. She displayed her work on the art show circuit for more than 11 years from 1974 to 1986, winning numerous awards at some of the finest juried shows in the midwest.

Jeannine began as a watercolorist and painted for a number of years before becoming a designer of handcrafted jewelry. Although primarily a self taught artist, she is well rounded in her medium and her work is very diverse delicate mixtures of textures and forms. Through the years her techniques have included casting, electro-forming, etching and fabrication.
"I've always had a deep love for jewelry and it seemed right to express my creative drive to design and made jewelry. To me designing in metal is like playing, it's fun, exciting and adventurous." In 1992 Jeannine's husband Charles joined her to form the partnership and they now display and sell their work in over 75 galleries across the United States from Alaska to New York. They are avid outdoors man and fishing, camping, rock hunting and nature photography.

Jeannine was born in 1945 in Alexandria, Virginia to a career army officer and lived the life of a typical "army brat" moving from state to state and country to country. For 33 years she lived in a historic 1854 Greek revival home and raised her five children. 1n 2004 after 10 years of "rough camping" 4 weeks a year, they sold their home and were able to buy 80 Acres of land in a remote wilderness area of Michigans Upper Peninsula. Wolf, Moose, Black Bear, Bald Eagle, beaver, Bobcat to name few. Their only contact to the outside world is a cell phone which is wired to a booster and a hard antenna outside the cabin. ( A far better option than the $4,800 the phone company wanted to bring a land line in!)