(Jeanie Edwards/Contributed)
Jeanie Edwards has found her niche as a wildlife artist and premier gallerist in Highlands, NC, but her love for art is deeply rooted in Alabama, where she grew up on a Wetumpka horse farm and was once crowned Miss Rodeo Alabama.
Recently featured in Western Art Collector Magazine, Jeanie’s career includes muralist, art teacher, abstract landscapes, and pet portraits but her greatest success and focus is painting animals. Jeanie says her work is all about the details in the face of the animal, leaving the background out of focus. She recalls her father saying, “You can always tell an animal’s intentions by looking them in the eyes.”
(Jeanie Edwards/Contributed)
Inspired by her grandfather, who was also an artist, Jeanie fell in love with art at a young age. She recalls asking to be taken to Montgomery when she was a child to see the beautiful art at the museums and galleries, never imagining she would later return as an artist participating in an exhibit and wildlife art festival in Downtown Wetumpka.
Although Jeanie’s art career of more than twenty years has led her to great success and eventually gallery owner, she says her story was born through a whole lot of rejection and life not going as planned. Her story began with aspirations of studying Interior Design in College, but it was not offered at AUM so she chose to study art. Her professors were critical, telling her she would never be an artist, and that she was wasting her time and her parent’s money. However, Jeanie’s perseverance and tenacity of spirit paid off as they would continue to do throughout her art career.
After college, Jeanie began working professionally as a muralist in South Alabama, then eventually moving to Highlands, NC where she first opened a paint-and-sip studio. The studio offered an upstairs gallery where she would paint animals and offer the work of other wildlife artists.
(Jeanie Edwards/Contributed)
When the COVID pandemic threatened her business and caused the loss of the space she was leasing, Jeanie chose to persevere. She found an available space, took a chance on herself, and placed an easel in the window. It was during this time Jeanie’s work as a wildlife artist truly began to take shape as she focused on painting animals and offering a full-time gallery.
Jeanie has participated in many wildlife art festivals and exhibits and sees the potential for WEWA’s success. She is excited to bring her work home and confident it will continue to grow and attract collectors and artists to Wetumpka and the River Region.
To learn more about Jeanie Edwards and her vibrant wildlife art, visit her online at www.jedwardsfineart.com, on Facebook and Instagram @jeanieedwardsfineart. Her gallery Jeanie Edwards Fine Art is located in the heart of Downtown Highlands, North Carolina.
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