SEPTEMBER 2010

The Best of Bay Life

The Best of Bay Life

Into the
Arts
Painting with Sarah Haas Otts
Glassblowing at
The Hot Shop

Plus:
More hometown talent
BayFest music festival
Raspberry Truffle martini
 34
FRESH TALENT
In the studio with
Make your 7738 McKinley Ave. • Mobile
Sarah Haas Otts dream kitchen 251.633.3188
Photo by G.M. Andrews
Cover design by Andy Zak a reality 25325 Hwy 98 • Daphne
251.625.8989

inside
www.mobileappliance.net

this
Photo by G.M. Andrews
issue
SEPTEMBER 2010 CONTENTS

OBJECTS
Items for game day get-togethers 11
ETC.
Express yourself with art lessons 12
AT HOME
Frank Ledbetter bends the rules with
handcrafted metal décor 13
WINE
Bring diversity to the table with Australia’s

16
First Families of Wine 19
Photo by G.M. Andrews TRAVEL
Explore modern-day Vietnam and
Halong Bay 40
FOOD PURSUITS
David Holloway on food as art Learn a few new steps with group dance
classes 43
ABOUT TOWN
A primer in “Old Mobile,” saying farewell
to a few good friends, and a tribute the

26
city’s artistic historian 44
BRIDAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Presenting our area’s newlyweds 50

GRIT & GRACE CALENDAR

Glassblowing demonstrations What’s new, what’s now, what’s to come
at The Hot Shop – plus a look at this year’s Bayfest music
festival 60 Come visit the model home at Founders Square, located in the heart of downtown Fairhope.
Photo by Bill Starling RESOURCES

22
Find more information related to this Phase II construction of residential and commercial space, (professional or retail) will
Photo by Brad Puckett month’s articles 71 begin in a few weeks with home prices from the low six hundreds and commercial
ARTS & ANTIQUES DIRECTORY space for lease or for sale from the low three hundreds. Founders Square is a master
A guide to local retailers in Mobile and planned mix use community designed to be a serene place to live and a vibrant place
BEHIND THE LENS Baldwin 72 to work and shop.
Brad Puckett chooses family and
SWEET ENDINGS
photography Contact Mike Bernhardt 251-545-2112
Unwind with a Chocolate Raspberry Truffle
Martini from the Royal Scam 74 0166253501

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 The Sky’s
the Limit
Mobile painter Sarah Haas Otts turn
s
familiar landscapes into dreamy scen
es
| By MICHELLE ROBERTS MATTHEW
S | Photography by G.M. ANDREWS
|

34 Zalea | September 2010 September 2010 | Zalea 35

 Painting is the only vocation Sarah
Haas Otts has ever known. As a child,
she was into “craftsy” things, then she
discovered her talent for painting in high
school. Friends of the family would
come over, admire her artwork hanging
on the walls, and ask to buy it. It was
thrilling to be able to make extra money
doing something she enjoyed. And to-
day, she’s still selling things the same way.
Otts jokes that the plaster walls of
her Midtown home are full of nail holes
where paintings once hung, then were
taken down to be exhibited or sold. But
she’s not crazy about displaying her own
art because she is critical of it, Otts said.
She’d rather collect the work of artists
she admires, such as painter Bonnie
Fuchs and photographer Rebekah Webb,
with whom she has swapped artwork.
Otts, who works mostly in oil but
also dabbles in charcoal, is known for
her subtle landscapes and abstract
paintings that range in size from large
canvases to small works on paper. Her
work is sold at Ashland Gallery in Mid-
town, at Merrill Miller Interiors in Gulf
Shores and at the Lyons Share Gallery in
Fairhope.

Subtle landscapes in a subdued palette

36 Zalea | September 2010 September 2010 | Zalea 37
 Learning Experience
Since establishing her studio, Sarah Haas Otts offers lessons in oil, watercolor
and acrylic to children and adults. Her classes are a mixture of beginners and more-
advanced students. She teaches up to 10 children at a time (ages six to nine and
ages 10 and up) and up to seven adults. Classes last an hour and a half for children
and two hours for adults. Cost is $30 per session.
“I don’t paint in a tight and orderly way – everything is loose and relaxed and
enjoyable, and my lessons are the same way,” Otts said. “A lot of people like the
looseness of my work, and I try to carry the same idea over in my classes.”

After graduating from St. Paul’s, Otts
went to the University of Mississippi, a col-
lege she chose because it was close enough
and yet far enough away from home – and
she liked the artsy town of Oxford, which
reminded her of Fairhope. Ole Miss also
offered her the Southern university experi-
ence, with football games and an active
social life, as she worked toward her degree
in fine arts with an emphasis in painting.
All along, Otts knew she would return
to Mobile to start her career as an artist.
And in the fall of 2007, she started looking
for studio space. Her father had purchased
the building next door to his business on
Old Shell Road in Midtown and planned to
tear it down for a parking lot. But Otts had
a thick sheet of glass serves as the palette
where she mixes her colors and achieves
just the right texture.
Color is very important in her paintings,
Otts explained, and the first thing she does
with her students is teach them the color
wheel. “It’s what people notice about a
painting before they notice what it’s a paint-
ing of,” she said.
Gaining experience, Otts’ work has
evolved from brighter, bolder, “obvious”
color to a more subtle palette. These days,
she often finds inspiraiton exploring Mobile
Bay and the Mobile River Delta by boat
with her husband. “My landscapes are low-
lying areas of the bay and the delta,” she
said. “I love the solitude, the untouched na-

“I don’t have any limits. other ideas.

The young painter turned the nonde-
script brick building into a wonderful studio
space. Two large windows along the front,
each displaying one of her paintings, give
ture of the delta. It’s like a no-man’s land.”
Because Otts works with oil, which is
applied in layers, she has to allow plenty of
drying time as she works. A painting typi-
cally takes a week from start to finish, and

I ’m young, and I have her plenty of natural light to work and

teach. Double doors open into one large
room with classroom space on one side,
which consists of several paint-splattered
tables. On the other side, she has a small
the price of her work ranges from $100 to
$3,000.
Recently married, Otts plans to keep
her roots in Mobile as she tries to extend
the reach of her work to other, larger cities.

plenty of time.” office and an area where she works, usually

on several paintings at once.
Each week, Otts devotes Tuesdays and
Fridays to her own work, and she paints
“I’d definitely like to expand into galleries
around the country,” she said. “I don’t have
any limits. I’m young, and I have plenty of
time.”
around her teaching schedule on the other
days. Lately, many of her pieces have touch-
es of gold and silver leaf mixed in with the
paint “to imply light,” she said. And on a For more information about Otts’ studio and art
shelf next to the easel where she works, lessons, see Resources on page 71.

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