The self-taught artist sees beauty in treasures she finds along the shores of Lake Huron — especially the colorful beach glass that has been naturally tumbled by sand, wind, and waves.

She collects her treasure in the warmer months and creates whimsical, heartfelt art with those pieces all year long.

“I started walking the beaches during the COVID lockdown in March of 2020,” Gagnier said in an interview at her home. “The snow had just melted, and nobody had been on the beaches, and there was glass everywhere. I found my first piece, and I was very addicted.”

A beloved hobby turned into a livelihood.

Courtesy Photo A lone marble sits atop a bed of rocks on the Lake Huron shoreline.

“I was finding, just, cookie sheets full every day,” she said. “And, I’ve never had that happen since.”

Her dad, Gary Lee Klein, is often her beachcombing partner, and they enjoy spending time searching for hidden gems together.

“You’re not always guaranteed to get a lot of beach glass when you go looking,” Gagnier said. “To me, it’s like finding a diamond.”

Gagnier grew up in Rogers City and now lives in Black River. Her dad lives in Hillman.

“Growing up in Rogers City, I’d jump in the car any time my mom offered to take us swimming to Lake Huron along U.S.-23 near Hoeft State Park,” Gagnier wrote in a short bio. “Now, 45 years later, I’m still near the big lake and often return to that same swim sport for some of my best pebble pieces.”

Courtesy Photo Kendra Gagnier, right, and her dad, Gary Lee Klein, of Hillman, take a selfie on Father’s Day 2021 while treasure hunting the Lake Huron shoreline in Oscoda.

She searches for glass, stones, marbles, and whatever other discarded objects might make for a fun addition to her collection. She then separates and organizes the glass by color, and selects pieces that will come together as the right shapes for her artwork, which involves creating people, animals, and scenery with the beach glass, stones, and objects.

“I don’t tumble my glass,” she noted. “I don’t cut it. The only altering I do is I started oiling it so it brings out the color. Otherwise, it’s frosted.”

She works out of her home studio. Her business is called KendrArt. She frames her artwork and often adds a clever quote, or a Bible verse across the bottom. All of her pieces are made with objects found along the shoreline of Lake Huron and other Great Lakes. She likes to keep it authentic.

“KendrArt came to life in 2020 when I started beachcombing during the pandemic,” she stated. “Spending hours each week, I taught myself how to look, where to look and when to look for Great Lakes treasures, including beach glass, pottery and stoneware that had washed up on the shores.”

She made her first piece to honor her dog.

Courtesy Photo Kendra Gagnier sees beauty in beach glass, and finding it is half the fun! Here is a turquoise blue piece nestled among stones, just waiting for her to discover it.

“My inspiration is always my dog,” she said of her chocolate cocker spaniel, Raylon Jennings, whom they recently had to put down. “She was my original art inspiration for making dog pieces.”

Now, she and her husband Fred have Remington, a black Labrador Retriever, and Wyatt Earp, a cocker spaniel puppy.

“So, for my first piece, I made a dog,” Gagnier said. “And then I started seeing shapes and putting things together and making pieces and giving them to friends.”

She said her friends Lee and Mary Kitzman told her she had a talent and needed to start selling her artwork.

So, in 2020 alone, she made about 200 pieces of artwork.

Courtesy Photo Kendra Gagnier organizes her treasures by color and type after a day of beachcombing on Lake Huron.

“In 2021, I finished at 386,” she recalled. “And, this year, I’m at 296.”

One of her prized pieces is made with various shades of brown pottery — a large framed moose.

Gagnier will work with clients to make custom pieces as well as selling art she has already created and framed. She earned first place in crafts at the Harmony Weekend Arts and Crafts Festival over Labor Day weekend this year. She attends a couple of other shows in Michigan.

“I like to go to shows with at least 70 or 80 pieces,” she noted, since everyone is looking for something different.

Most of her business comes from people reaching out online or by calling her to make requests.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Kendra Gagnier shines a black light on a piece of glass that is now a bird. The type of glass, containing uranium, glows under black light. She did not even know that when she made the piece in 2020.

“Probably 80% of my business is custom orders,” she said.

Gagnier offers four different sizes of framed art — 5×7, 8×8, 8×10, and 12×12 — ranging in price from $40 to $135. You can reach her at KendrArt2020@gmail.com, or “KendrArt” on Facebook.

“I’ve shipped my art to 15 different states and two different countries,” she said.

Although beach glass is beautiful, the backstory is not.

“Beach glass comes from back in the day, when people dumped their garbage into rivers or the Great Lakes,” she said. “And then, over the decades,” it becomes naturally tumbled and rounded, which is perfect for her artwork.

“This piece is probably 60 to 70 years old,” she said, holding up a piece she found.

When she first started out, she found some light green pieces that almost looked neon. Later, she found out some of her glass is made with uranium, which glows under black light. That was just another added bonus for her.

“It’s from the 1920s, when they put uranium in the glass,” she explained.

Another fun find is marbles.

“I’ve been fortunate to find three marbles so far, which is like the Holy Grail to find,” Gagnier said.

When she looks at her treasures, she sees a world of possibility. Maybe that green piece of glass is a leaf. Maybe that shard of pottery is a hat. That piece of driftwood could be a sled. There are no limits to what she can create.

“The glass tells me what to make it into,” she said. “Like, yesterday, when I went to the beach, I knew I didn’t have a stone the right shape … I just use what I have and I use imagination. Not all of them are perfectly shaped, but that’s the beauty of art.”

Gagnier loves what she does, and she calls it a blessing to be able to share her work with others.

“I consider myself blessed with the ability to create art using my Great Lakes gems,” Gagnier said in her bio. “It makes me smile knowing how my art pieces touch the lives of others.”

Courtesy Photo Kendra Gagnier creates heartfelt scenes from beach glass, stones, and driftwood she finds on the shoreline.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Kendra Gagnier stands next to a large moose she made out of brown pottery pieces she found on the beach.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Kendra Gagnier likes to weave Christian themes into her art, like the manger scene above.

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