Bio & Statement

Artist Bio

Growing up on the rural outskirts of the Pacific Northwest may be partially to blame for Jeannie’s art habit, encouraging her love of animals (particularly horses) and natural landscapes, which inhabit most of her work. After 20+ years around the deserts, beaches and concrete jungles of Southern California, in 2004 she returned to her native Oregon City, OR, where she now creates her artwork and participates in the growing local artist community. Jeannie’s other loves are her husband, children and grandchildren, her church family, reading, writing, singing, photography, and, when she gets the chance to enjoy the fresh Oregon air, fly-fishing.

Media: Etch A Sketch®; acrylic; pen-and-ink

Art Forms: Etch A Sketch® drawings (“EtchArt”), greeting cards, decorative bulbs, acrylic on canvas.

Affiliation: Three Rivers Artist Guild

Jeannie Hemming EtchArt

Like many American children, as a little girl Jeannie received the gift of a bright red Ohio Art Company Etch A Sketch®. However, unlike most children (and adults) she didn’t simply etch a few vertical and horizontal lines and then set it aside. Even at the age of 10, she intuitively understood how to manipulate the two white knobs to transform the continuous line into a medium for drawing. Little did she know that decades later, after raising children of her own, she would still be creating original EtchArt, no longer simply as a hobby, but as commissioned work for display in art galleries and in the homes of clients.

Since attaining the skill of preserving her artwork by draining the silver “sand” that erases a drawing, Jeannie now sells her EtchArt far and wide, with local sales and by shipping purchased pieces across the U.S.

Artist Statement

Jeannie believes that creativity is about building on the constraints encountered in art – in life – and allowing those constraints to push us beyond expectation. The underlying message of her EtchArt is about shifting our perspectives and being willing to dive into challenges with a creative attitude.