2018 Community Artist in the Parks Janet Buckingham
It was love at first sight when Janet first visited Southeast Utah in the early 1980s. Born and raised in the flatlands of Kansas, she had never seen anything like the towering canyon walls and sandstone formations of Moab. Her career path has been diverse—teaching, arts administration, local government, and even directing tourism in Kodiak, Alaska—but Moab kept calling her home. Janet retired to Moab full time in 2013, and fills her days with painting, quilting, writing, and hiking.
Janet has never known a time when she didn’t create art. Writing was her first love: journaling, poetry, essays, and articles for local newspapers. Painting came years later, after living in the inspirational landscapes of Moab and Alaska. She started painting with pastels, but expanded to ink and watercolor. Most recently, she hit upon a unique combination: printing her original ink and watercolor on cotton fabric, then quilting these “blocks” into wall hangings and bags. The design of each piece is organic and built around the color, shape, and size of the original watercolor.
Janet is married, has three grown children, one granddaughter, eight grandsons, and a beloved Tibetan terrier.
