Britney Lafaye
Abstract Artist
I am a Mississippi native now residing in Newnan, Georgia, My mixed media creations are a testament to the power of reimagination. By layering acrylics, collages, stencil work, oil pastels, and fine papers, I build abstracts that invite viewers to delve into their own sense of place and time. Each piece is a journey through imaginary places, where the discarded becomes meaningful and the ordinary transforms into the extraordinary.
The process of creating these works is an act of reclamation and healing. I sift through the detritus of everyday life, finding beauty and purpose in the overlooked and cast-aside. This practice reflects my belief that with love and imagination, we can reshape our understanding of the world and our place within it.
My body of work is an exploration of refuge and belonging. My pieces serve as visual anchors, grounding the viewer in landscapes of memory and possibility. They are at once deeply personal and universally resonant, inviting each observer to find their own sanctuary within the layers of color, texture, and form.
Through my art, I aim to challenge perceptions of value and beauty, encouraging a more thoughtful engagement with our surroundings and our past. It is my hope that these works will inspire others to seek out their own “solid grounds of refuge” and to find healing in the act of creation and reimagination.
Michael Ottensmeyer
Artist and Author
Michael Ottensmeyer was born in Vincennes, Indiana and grew up on a small watermelon farm near that city. He attended Indiana State University as well as Central Michigan University, where he earned a Master of Arts Degree. Michael lived in Europe for nearly two decades and over the last few years he has focused on what he calls his European Retrospective, which is currently featured in this exhibit.
Ottensmeyer has been an avid painter and writer for over 15 years, during which time he has produced hundreds of country style primitive paintings, craft paintings, and a series of stylized landscapes, farmscapes and villages patterned after the Shaker style of architecture. In 2007 Michael completed a novel entitled The Melon Boys, based on his experiences packing watermelons in the south during the summer of 1968. In 2012 he also wrote The Great Otts, My Father’s Story, a biography of his beloved father.
When Ottensmeyer moved to the Atlanta area in 2006, he became active in producing acrylic images on canvas, and took an interest in country style scenes on skateboards as part of a yearly charity event in Decatur, GA known as “Skater Aid.” His painted skate boards earned hundreds of dollars for the Skater Aid Children’s Cancer Charity. His interest in country style paintings grew over the past 15 years, and one of his works entitled Random House is in the permanent collection of the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, CT.
In the last several years, Ottensmeyer’s paintings have been exhibited at the Peachtree City Library, Chatt Hills Gallery at Serenbe where he is a past member, and in Greenville, GA at the Artisans on the Square Gallery and the Printshop Gallery.
