About Me

"Everything that I create for BRIDGER Leather is made with two thoughts in mind: It must be crafted primarily by hand, making each piece unique AND it must reflect a love of place and nature. In doing so, it is my intent to create bespoke leather goods that serve both as functional works of art and are endowed with a spirit that sparks a memory or connection to the beauty of world around us."

-- Jenny Keller

My Story

Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, artist and maker Jenny Keller has always been a soul of the Midwest, but one with a spirit that sought to explore and experience life. One of the most memorable introductions to the American West was via the "epic" family RV trip that journeyed from Indiana, through the Black Hills of South Dakota, to Cody, WY, Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Teton National Park, past the Great Salt Lake and on to the Coastal Highway of California. This trip to the Rocky Mountains and the American West instilled a great love for the vastness of the United States and a love of the Big Sky.

Jenny earned her Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing at Indiana University, then a MFA at the University of Georgia. She studied in Italy during both her undergraduate and graduate programs.

She went on to create landscape and figurative paintings over the years earning numerous honors and exhibiting in places such as The Indianapolis Museum of Art, The National Academy of Design in NYC, Temple University Rome and Palazzo Casali in Cortona, Italy. Jenny has conducted numerous lectures on her important body of work entitled "Inspired By Dante" (https://inspiredbydante.com) which examines the epic poem, The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. She has spoken at Notre Dame University, Purdue University, Boston College and numerous others. Her professional painting and drawing works are exhibited under her maiden name: Jennifer Strange.

Jenny's other accomplishments include mural paintings done at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, The Indiana State Museum, and The Indianapolis Zoo.

In 2016, Jenny and her husband, Dave, purchased their home in Bozeman, Montana. Her creative attention turned to leather work, quite by accident. While seeking cow hair rug, she wandered into a Tandy Leather store, and before she left, she had signed up for a class. Thus began her lover affair in the leather arts. What began as a simple exploration of leather as a means of creative expression has evolved, and she has turned a passion into a business named after the Bridger Mountains, just 5 miles up the road from her home.

Jenny splits here time between Bozeman, Montana and Indianapolis, Indiana.

  • One of my favorite quotes:

    "The nature of God is a circle of which the center is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere."

    - Empedocles

  • My mom and I love to road trip together, especially when I drive from Indianapolis to Bozeman. We always meander off the path and find new things to discover or Rediscover. Here we are visiting the Tetons : )

  • Hiking is a favorite pastime. In the summer of 2021, my husband, brother and I undertook one of the premiere hikes of Montana...the "Beaten Path." This 28 mile hike leads one through the Beartooth Mountains and past 16 alpine lakes.