Artist

Enrolling at Pittsburg State University is what brought Janet to Pittsburg in 1991. There she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the PSU Department of Art where she now teaches. She studied jewelry/metals with Professor Marjorie Schick and remained in the Pittsburg area after graduation, working for her mentor until her death in 2017. Janet also worked at the Pittsburg Public Library from 1997-2008 and then established her home studio business, Janet Lewis Designs, in 2009.  In 2010, she created “The Legacy Series” of sculptures from historic copper salvaged from the roof of the public library, where they are permanently installed. As payment, Janet received a stash of this “Legacy Copper” that she used to develop a jewelry line and for commissioned pieces, giving 10% of sales from these works back to the library. Her work is locally available at ArtForms Gallery in downtown Pittsburg, a cooperative gallery that she helped establish in 2016.