Jeannine McKenzie has been a jeweler for more than thirty years. She displayed her work on the art show circuit from 1974 to 1986, winning numerous awards at some of the finest juried shows in the Midwest. Now she creates her handmade jewelry in a remote cabin deep in the woods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Surrounded by beautiful scenery, bear, moose, and other critters, she has found a way to merge all of her passions.


Triangle Post Earrings
Polished sterling silver and stamped brass.
Each earring measures 7/8" high x 1" wide.

Jeannine was born in 1945 in Alexandria, Virginia, to a career army officer and lived the life a typical army brat, moving from state to state and country to country. For over 32 years, she has lived in her historic 1854 Greek Revival home, and raised a family of five children. Jeannine says that she finds great strength in her children and in her big old home.


Silver Post Earrings with Pearl
Each earring measures 1" high x 1" wide.
Polished silver and hand scribed matte sterling silver with a freshwater pearl.

Jeannine began her artistic career as a watercolorist, and painted for a number of years before becoming a jewelry designer. Although primarily self-taught, she is well-rounded artist, and her work is a delicate mixture of textures and forms. Through the years, her techniques have included casting, electroforming, etching, and fabrication.


Mixed Metal Dangle Earrings
Each earring measures 1 1/2" high x 7/8" wide.
Handcrafted from sterling silver, copper, and freshwater pearls.

In 1992, Jeannine's husband Charles joined her in the jewelry business, and they now display and sell their work in over 75 galleries across the United States from Alaska to New York. The posts and nuts they use on their earrings are all surgical stainless steel and hypoallergenic - great news for those who have allergies to some metals.

When asked about her work she replies, "I've always had a deep love for jewelry, so it seemed the right art form with which to express my creative drive to design. To me designing in metal is more like playing than work - it's fun, exciting, and adventurous."

The McKenzies are outdoor enthusiasts, and they enjoy fishing, camping, rock hunting, and nature photography. In 2004, after ten years of rough camping one month each year (sleeping in the back of their truck), they had a cabin built on their eighty acres of land in a remote wilderness area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Charles has to plow the snow (over 200 inches the past winter) off their road, because the county doesn't do it. UPS doesn't deliver in the winter. Days go by without a human sound.