Jeannette M Rein
Biography
Jeannette Rein is a Western Australian artist whose practice spans sculpture, contemporary jewellery, and public art, with a career defined by innovation in wood, metal, and mixed media. She holds a Master of Fine Art (Research) from Federation University and earlier qualifications in visual arts and education from Curtin University and SCV Rusden.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, including in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Taiwan, with notable group exhibitions such as Nature’s Canvas (2026-29, USA tour), Beginnings and Open/Closed (AAW International Symposium, 2025), and the landmark allTURNatives residency exhibition at the Center for Art in Wood, Philadelphia, which has consolidated her reputation as a practitioner of note within contemporary craft and sculpture.
Solo exhibitions include Liminal: Transitional Wood (2016, Perth), Illuminated Trajectory (2015, New Zealand), and Quintessence (2008, Darwin).
Rein’s artworks are held in significant public and private collections worldwide, including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, The Center for Art in Wood (USA), Mialoli Wood Sculpture Museum (Taiwan), and Artbank, Sydney. She has completed major commissions for schools, churches, and civic spaces across Western Australia.
Recognised with numerous awards, including “Transformations”: Forestry SA Wood Sculpture Competition, the Mid-Career Fellowship Grant - Department of Culture and the Arts, WA, Circle Foundation of Art - Signature Artist, and Honorable Mention, she was recently awarded The Premier Art Prize by Contemporary Art Station.
Rein continues to contribute to the field through exhibitions, residencies, and publications that celebrate her distinctive artistic vision.
Artist Statement
At first glance, the forms seem discovered rather than constructed: something marine, botanical, or perhaps belonging to an unfamiliar species. Look closer, however, and Jeannette M Rein’s extraordinary manipulation of wood becomes apparent. Indigenous timbers are carved, pierced, layered, and extended into intricate structures that appear to unfurl through space. Grain, bark, and natural imperfections remain integral to the sculpture, creating a constant dialogue between the material’s original life and the new form it has assumed.
Decades of experimentation across sculpture, jewellery, and public art have given Rein an exceptional understanding of what wood can do. Her work, held in collections including the Center for Art in Wood, combines technical ingenuity with a deep sensitivity to nature. Rein does not impose herself upon the material so much as collaborate with it, revealing possibilities that feel simultaneously improbable and entirely organic.
Gorgonian Coral,Myrtle burl, leaf vein, 38 x 38 x 7 cm
Dragon, Laminated,carved, perforated Jarrah burl, 74 x 31 x 46
Of Gossamer Wings, Australian Red Cedar, hand carved, 33 x 35 x 19 cm
Serendipity IV, Kings park bottlebrush, carved, sand blasted, 110 x 20 x 18 cm
Volute, Ficus Carica, leaf vein, etched patterned aluminium, 70 x 38 x34 cm
Enosse, Handcarved Swan Valley Woollybush, 15 x 24 x 12 cm
Threshold, handcarved Elm, 47 x 50 x 25 cm
