There’s a certain kind of hush that falls over the Appalachian hills at dusk—where the world feels ancient and tender all at once. It’s that hush, that heartbeat of the land, that you’ll feel humming through the walls of Formato Fine Arts during our newest exhibition, These Hills Are Alive, featuring the work of Jen Otey.
 Wildwood Flower
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This show invites you into an immersive experience where the lines between art, ecology, and heritage are blurred with intention. Jen’s paintings and ceramics are rooted in a deep reverence for native flora and fauna, particularly the lesser-seen, lesser-celebrated species of the Central Appalachian Mountains. Her work captures the beauty of biodiversity—not just as something to observe, but something to protect. These are not abstract landscapes or imagined creatures; they are loving studies of the real, living world just outside our doors. In this exhibit, you’ll find delicately rendered paintings in oil, acrylic, and ink that pay homage to indigenous species, endangered habitats, and fleeting seasonal cycles. Alongside them, Jen’s hand-built stoneware ceramics bring wild joy into everyday rituals—mugs, platters, and tiles carved with foxes, owls, raccoons, salamanders, and more. Each piece is part story, part offering—meant to bring us closer to the land that sustains us. |
About the Artist
Jen Otey, founder of MOONbow ARTworks and co-founder of the Rose Cottage School of Art in Wytheville, doesn’t just make art. She builds worlds. Since her first studio days in the wilds of Girdwood, Alaska, Jen has followed the tug of wilderness—from the volcanic colors of Hawaii to the green, breathing slopes of Southwest Virginia. Her current work draws deeply from Appalachian land, language, and lore.
| As Chair of the Board for Forge Appalachia and Outdoor Recreation Development Manager for Friends of Southwest Virginia, Jen works at the intersection of creativity, conservation, and community-building. Her art, whether it's a delicate pen-and-ink deer or a joyful ceramic fox dancing across a teacup, reflects an ethos rooted in care—care for the earth, care for heritage, and care for those who wander through both. |
 Jen working in Studio, Rose Cottage School of Art
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What to Expect
These Hills Are Alive is a multi-sensory invitation to reconnect—with art, with each other, and with the natural world we call home. You’ll find paintings that evoke mossy paths and quiet ridgelines, ceramic creatures who seem just a breath away from leaping off the shelves, and a gallery space transformed into an Appalachian reverie.
 Saint Dolly
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You’ll also find something that feels like gathering:
Whether you’re an art collector, a mountain wanderer, or just someone who loves the sound of spring peepers and the smell of clay, there’s something for you here. |
Jen said it best:
“I hope that this show inspires you to take a walk in the woods, to listen to the wind in the trees and the babble of a brook, and to do what you can to nurture the biodiversity of the land where you live.”
That’s the heartbeat of this show. And we can’t wait to share it with you.
Exhibit Opening:
🗓️ Friday, May 2nd, 2025
🕔 5–9 PM
📍 Formato Fine Arts, Wytheville, VA
Come wander with us.
