Jeanne Barnes

Jeanne was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and has always been passionate about art, even as a small child. She attended the Johannesburg Art, Ballet, Drama and Music school (now called the National School of the Arts) and went on to study fine art at Technikon Pretoria, majoring in Painting.

She was taking evening classes in jewellery making whilst studying, when she was offered an apprenticeship in jewellery manufacture at a well-known firm, which Jeanne jumped at. She went on to complete a 5 year certificate in Precious Metal Working and Mounting and has won 10 awards in Jewellery design, including prestigious awards from de Beers and Anglogold. A high point was when she was commissioned by de Beers to manufacture their Forevermark showpiece, a necklace consisting of multiple strelitzias in 18ct gold, with a 6 carat white centre diamond.

In 2008 she moved to Australia with her family, first to Dunsborough, and then to Kununurra, WA, where she worked full time as manager and jewellery designer at a high end jewellery store and she continued to paint in her spare time. Making the move to Kununurra was a turning point for her and her art, she changed her style completely and demand for her work began to increase to the point where she had to make a major career decision.

In 2016, she resigned from her role as manager at the jewellery store to become a full-time artist.

The Kimberley region continues to inspire her, it’s breathtaking beauty has taken her on a magical journey of inspiration and creativity. Her work is in collections in the UK, USA, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, all across Australia and in South Africa.

Her favourite subjects include the Kimberley region of Western Australia, boab trees, people, flowers, cattle and other wildlife. Her paintings are mainly watercolours, and feature gold leaf, silver leaf, ochres and real rough diamonds.