Pat Mercer Hutchens was born in Winnfield, Louisiana and has lived in Northern Virginia for many years.

She earned a BA in Art and Education from Wheaton College and an MFA from Northwestern University.  She recently completed a PhD in Theology from Louisiana Baptist University.

Hutchens has taught painting, printmaking, design and drawing at George Mason University, the Corcoran School of Art, Northern Virginia Community College, Lord Fairfax Community College, and Dominion Theological Seminary.

She is the founder and director of Washington Artworks—an artists cooperative.  She is also a published author, poet and photographer and pens a regular column for The Jerusalem Connection.