Paper route
Photos by Oveth Martinez
Follow the paper trail to La Conner to experience an artist's whimsical creations For upcoming gallery dates as well as By Hayley Wakefield
Once the congestion and monotonous stretch of Highway 20 give way to some semblance of life beyond casino billboards and petroleum stations, you find signs directing you to the storybook community of La Conner. In this small town by the sea, rabbits rule the waterfront and sunflowers guard courtyards and walkways like royal soldiers. You might wonder if I picked up a tainted drink earlier in the trip, and that I found my way on the other side of the looking glass that day I strayed from the interstate. Perhaps I did stumble into Alice’s world and found a real Mad Hatter. Although no top hat or tea party was evident when I met paper artist and sculptor extraordinaire Chris Theiss at his Hutch Studio in downtown La Conner, I found his artwork and vintage studio space playful and magical. Walls dotted with curiosities and vignettes of life create the kind of environment my Secret Garden and Little Princess adolescent dreams were chock full of. Bookshelves constructed from pages of ancient texts, art frames made from cardboard boxes, and of course, whirligigs, best described as “rotating whimsy of metal.” La Conner’s modest papier atelier was in fact born into a creative family. Theiss’ mother went to school for textile design, and his father was an architect. When he was a child, he recalls his mother enrolling he and his sister in art classes at the Rhode Island School of Design. While Theiss’ mother was in class, his creative imagination caused an artistic ruckus. Identifying “Crayon on Wallpaper” as one of his first masterpieces, at age four or five, Thiess gets serious about the need for such creative freedom. “I’m continually thinking about specific things that I made when I was a kid. I think it is important that nobody ever
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class info, go to hutchstudio.blogspot.com
told me that what I was making was bad or wrong as a kid.” When other kids were collecting McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, he was making real action figures, with rusty screws and metal scraps. The Mount Vernon artist was able to channel his passion for detail and love of creating when the Bay, where Theiss says he became an ace with a glue gun, hired him as a finisher for the nationally recognized stuffed animal company Bunnies. After two and a half years however, Theiss found a creative home at his Morris Street location, Hutch, surrounded by his wife’s screen-printed tees and magnificent, paper wonderland sculptures. When asked about his inspirations, Theiss explains the importance of authenticity, “Funny and creative people inspire me. When an artist is able to get themselves into their artwork, whether it’s music, painting or sculpture. I get really excited. That’s the ‘real deal’ for me.” Chris Theiss is the “real deal,” to use his own words. The local artist’s work was recently featured on HGTV’s Dear Genevieve, and as a result caused quite a buzz in the online design community. Theiss offers classes to the public for both adults and children at his Bunnies by the Bay Hutch Studio on Morris Street in La Conner. In his classes, you are able to transform found objects like moving boxes, Popsicle sticks and rusty flatware into amazing pieces of original art. Whether you intend to visit Theiss’ studio or experience classes at the hands of this unique local gem, bring an open mind and a camera, because capturing what you find on the other side of the looking glass might just unlock the Mad Hatter in you.