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Wytheville Enterprise
Fri Nov 21, 2008 - 05:07 PM
By JEFFREY SIMMONS/Staff
First came the degree; then came the journey.
Since graduating from Virginia Tech in 2000, former Wytheville resident Jen
Otey has been on a voyage of personal and professional discovery.
More than eight years later, she’s finally found herself and her calling among
the ice, snow, mountains and grizzly bears in Alaska’s interior.
Earlier this month, the 1994 George Wythe grad kicked off another gallery
opening to showcase her artwork – one of many passions she’s refined through
her travels and life experiences.
It was her architectural degree, though, that led her, as Alaska’s motto puts it, “North to the
Future.”
Otey was finishing up her college studies when she attended a lecture put on by
Alaskan architect and Tech grad Mike Mense.
“I was so blown away by his level of detail and his work,” she said, adding
that friends thought she was nuts when she talked about moving to a land of
“igloos and cabins” to practice her profession.
Mense and Otey—whose childhood chats with her brother sometimes centered on the
wild frontier up north—began corresponding, and the exchange led to a
two-and-a-half-year job with Mense’s firm in Anchorage.
Otey and her dog set out for Alaska in 2000,
and today Otey, 32, runs her own residential design firm and art business out
of her newly built house in Fairbanks,
the state’s second most populated city. She shares the residence with her
partner Nate and 2-year-old son Oscar.
Marketed through three different Web sites, her oil and acrylic paintings have
provided an important outlet for her maturing spirituality and creativity.
“I feel like part of the reason why I’m here is to do the artwork that I do,”
she said.
Featuring bold colors and sometimes surreal scenes, Otey’s work has developed
through her travels and experiences, she said.
Drawing since childhood, Otey took art lessons from Little Creek painter and
family friend Pam Lucas. She credits Lucas with helping her bring out her
spiritual side.
Lucas, who has kept up with Otey’s career and is friends with Otey’s mother,
Linda, has seen her former student break away from conventional landscapes and
everyday themes and find her own unconventional artistic voice.
“I’ve watched her blossom,” Lucas said.
With titles such as “Mountain Mama,” “Divine Meeting” and “Time,” Otey’s pieces
are influenced by her trips, her surroundings and even God.
“I’m pretty wide open,” she said.
“I think her use of color is wonderful,” Lucas added. “Her lines are very clean
and neat and very direct.”
Nancy Burnham of Alaska’s
The Annex gallery described Otey’s output as “spiritually inspired images” in
an e-mail message.
“Her use of line in her work is beautiful,” she wrote. “There is a peace that
comes from examining her art.”
Otey’s Annex show opened Nov. 7 and runs through Nov. 29.
In addition to exploring Alaska, Otey has
soaked up the culture in New Mexico, Hawaii and even Peru during extended stays.
She said her father, C.N. Otey, with his stop-in-the-local-diner-first
philosophy when on the road probably helped foster her fondness for genuine
people and places.
“I just love meeting people and meeting with people from all walks of life,”
she said.
She also relishes feedback on her artwork, which lets her see how a particular
piece has touched a viewer.
Her one-on-one interactions with people have also birthed what Otey calls
“intuitive drawings.”
During these sessions, individuals sit quietly in front of Otey, who then
records her impressions.
“I just draw what I see,” she said.
Otey said she’s probably done around 200 of these conceptual pieces and wants
to set up a similar session in Wythe
County when she visits in
January.
Along with adorning calendars, coffee mugs, CD covers and T-Shirts, Otey’s
imaginative creations even appear on skateboards at one of a handful of Web sites
where she sells and markets MOONbow ARTworks.
For Otey, however, her creative pursuits are about more than making money or
achieving recognition. They’re an integral part of her existence.
“It is the foundation by which everything else rests upon,” she said. “It makes
me a stronger, happier person.”
As her former teacher explained, Otey’s inherent individuality is the driving
catalyst behind her paintings.
“She’s very unique, and it shows in her work,” Lucas said.
http://www.swvatoday.com/comments/art_is_where_the_heart_is/news/4048/
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