Andrea McKenna grew up in the northern part of New Jersey with New York City as the backdrop. After graduating from The School of Visual Arts, she briefly pursued a career in Illustration which lasted all of minutes following her first acceptance into a small gallery show in New Hope, Pennsylvania.  This inspired her ever-present desire to paint and showcase her art. McKenna's work has been shown in many exhibits around Long Island, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

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The evolution of her work became an exciting journey as she began to create large scale installations, incorporating found objects and nontraditional materials in her practice. It wasn't until recently that she discovered her work was becoming a bigger idea than the singular thoughts that created each piece.  Andrea's painted figures are often rooted in the spiritual realm, positioned in between death and the afterlife. Dan Payton of Eonta Space in Jersey City has described her work as: "revealing a cool, ethereal interest in a spiritual world that we travel to when life is extinguished. Almost devoid of color, they are meditations on identity, loss and the beyond, another dimension entirely." 

 

Work life led Andrea to become an interior Faux Finisher. After moving to Jersey City in 1999, she formed her own business: Videre Decorative Arts.  

From March 2014 to September 2017, she co-founded and operated The Raven Gallery and Boutique with close friend, Javiera Rodriguez, located in downtown Jersey City, which gave the local community a place to show and sell their work, as well as connect with their peers. Additionally, Andrea's involvement as a volunteer for the Jersey City Gallery Space and Performance Venue Art House Productions, introduced her to the world of set design, where she worked on several productions. In 2018, she was asked to curate for Art House's gallery and now serves as the Gallery Director. Currently, Andrea resides in Fort Lee with her husband.