Stitching
snapshots
Janet Hutchings stands
in front of art inside
her gallery, West Coast
Artisans. Fifteen artists
are featured in the gallery.
Photos by Hailey Hoffman/
The Astorian
Astoria artist brings photos to life
BY ZOË BUCHLI
If You Go
Fabric artist Janet Hutchings cre-
ates vibrant, unique landscapes and
cartoon-style fabric pieces by stitching
together a myriad of hand-painted and
commercial fabrics.
“I’ve always been a maker and a
sewer,” she said. “My sewing evolved
from one thing to another.”
Hutchings’ art has been featured by
Trail’s End Art Association. Her work
is housed at West Coast Artisans Gal-
lery, which Hutchings opened in 2019.
The gallery features 15 other Pacific
Northwest artists.
Hutchings is designing tote bags
with landscapes printed on them, as
well as embroidered teddy bears and an
octopus fabric piece for a wall hanging.
“I always have a bunch of pieces
I’m working on,” she said.
Before moving to the North Coast
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West Coast Artisans
Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday
through Saturday
wcartastoria.com
in 2016, Hutchings lived in San Diego.
She grew up with an appreciation of
fabric, namely from learning how to
sew with her grandmother at a young
age. Since then, Hutchings said she
was always working on some sort of
fabric piece, giving her practice to be
able to make the fabric art she crafts
now.
Within the last 15 years, Hutchings’
work has evolved from sewing proj-
ects into creating full fabric art pieces.
See Page 5
Hutchings’ ‘Mountain Lake.’