Jeannette Maxey

Jeannette Maxey is a Kalamazoo artist who brings a creative eye to jewelry making. She has been making unique “wearable art” for over 30 years. Recently, the eye-catching properties of fused glass cabochons have inspired a new style of jewelry designed to display these interesting stones to fullest advantage.

Jeannette works in sterling silver. She uses lost wax casting, bezel setting, rubber molding and soldering as her basic techniques. Making her own fused glass cabochons gives her the chance to create sets of unique colors and styles.

Jeannette was first introduced to the elements of design at Purdue University from which she graduated in 1961. Moving to Kalamazoo in 1968, she started taking ceramics classes at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art (KIA). An opportunity to travel to Thailand in 1978 opened up the world of semi-precious gems and she started taking jewelry classes at the KIA with Tom Turner, little realizing that it was an addictive art form. After many years of taking classes she started teaching the Beginning and Intermediate Jewelry class at the KIA and did so for many years. She has served as the department head of the KIA Jewelry Department.