Jean Eaton Gay’s art exhibit, Forests & Feathers, held an opening reception at ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture (GMA). It is now on display and holds paintings that immortalize her love for nature.
Gay explains, “All my adult life, I’ve enjoyed artwork from the 1800s and learned to love nature from that. As a young couple, me and my husband were outside camping with our children, and that made us fall in love with nature more.”
“Most of my art is based on nature. Trees are a part of nature, but no two are alike. My art professor used to say there’s abstraction everywhere you look in nature, and it makes feel close to it,” continued Gay.
The new exhibit is one of Gay’s many published works. She’s won awards, held other exhibitions at the GMA and the surrounding area, and even permanent collections on display in GA and neighboring states. Her work is specialized in oil paintings on canvas and wood.
Gay also received her interior design certification from ABAC in 2004, and gained heavy influence from Donna Hatcher, who was Professor of Art at ABAC.
Gay said, “She never gave us a suggestion and gave us a category and had us paint in that category.”
Spending nearly 10 years as a GMA volunteer, Gay had no idea until two years ago that just inside the museum was a piece from her grandfather, Lorenzo Law.
“It made me have a feeling of importance for my grandad’s work, and I’ve never seen it until I came in here, and it makes me feel even closer to the place now,” Gay said.
Nicole Willis, Gay’s granddaughter, came out to celebrate this meaningful moment in her grandmother’s life.
Willis said, “Even when I was younger, she always painted. My cousins and myself always admired her work.”
Willis’s creative outlet comes from decorative cake design, but Gay serves as her major inspiration no matter the medium: “I’m proud of her and love her so much. To be in your 80s and still get up and make art, I hope that passes through my kids. It’s admirable.”
Gay’s piece that Willis loves the most is one that hung in Gay’s beauty shop she had when Willis was younger.
She said, “When she sold her home, she gave it to me. I won’t let her get it back—it’s my favorite piece she ever let me have.”
Gay appreciates being seen through her art.
“You can think you are good at something until you get validated from people purchasing your pieces and wanting to buy them,” said Gay.
The future for Gay includes working on smaller pieces for people to hang up in their home. Forests & Feathers will be up through Dec. 12 at the GMA, so come walk through the nature of South Georgia through Gay’s artistic vision.
