Janet McKenzie pays homage to the feminine figure through sacred and secular imagery. Ms. McKenzie’s paintings depict an inner strength that often challenge and comfort the viewer. Using a variety of female forms including African American, Asian, and Caucasian women Ms. McKenzie is able create empowering images of women that are beautiful, thought provoking, and often haunting. Through her paintings Ms. McKenzie strives to convey the heart of the feminine being as a universal symbol of hope. “Women are for me sacred beings that are the foundation of life, subjects that have the power to captivate my imagination and inform my expression.”

Janet McKenzie is a native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn and raised in and around New York City. She now lives in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Ms McKenzie studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology (NYC) and the Art Students League (NYC), on scholarship (Merit, Arnold Blanch). She was the recipient of the Edward McDowell Traveling Scholarship, which sent her to Europe for a year to study and travel. At the time she was one of the youngest recipients of the McDowell, which is the Art Students League’s most prestigious award. After returning to New York the League gave Ms McKenzie her first solo show. Since that time she has focused her life’s work primarily on the subject of women.