Opening June 27, 2025

J. Berry

Jeanette (Jean) Berry, artist, was born August 22, 1938, in Okmulgee, OKlahoma, and was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She married early in life and had three children.

Berry began studying art as a teenager and took instruction in art at the Kansas City Art Institute. Berry then moved to Des Moines, Iowa, and received an Associate of Arts degree from Des Moines Area Community College in 1980. She trained with artists Chancey Rosenbaum and Brenda Jones.

The death of her youngest child, Toni, was a watershed for Berry, after which she threw herself into her art to fill the void. In spring 1987, she enrolled as a student of art at Drake University in Des Moines. There she completed a BFA in May 1989. Berry's work was exhibited regionally and nationally after she received her degree and was included in a Smithsonian Institution exhibition. In 1989, she won the Fourth Annual NAACP King Celebration Art Award. A carer highlight was her 1998 exhibit at Rand Afrikaans University's Gencor Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa. Other notable exhibits include Philadelphia's October Gallery, The Waterloo Museum of Art, and The Sumner School Gallery in Washington, DC. Her work is currently being represented by Hudson River Gallery in Iowa City, and can be seen in numerous permanent and personal collections aroundthe world. Berry originally worked predominantly in charcoal and paper, focusing primarily on depicting African Americans, but she is now exploring cardboard collage and found objects.

Berry has recently embarked upon her "Golden Hour" Silent Auction Art Tour. This is a series of fundraising events taking place across the country with a retrospective of matted and framed prints and originals that span over 30 years of her work in charcoal, pastels, pencil, watercolor, and mixed media collage.