Dec. 12—OSKALOOSA — Studio Osky kicked off its career as a local art hub Saturday night with an open house featuring Fairfield artist Jenny Sammons.

Sammons made her Studio Osky debut with a woodland themed show.

"This show is called 'Woodland Vibes,' and it all started when I made a fairy drawing," Sammons says. After her first fairy drawing, she drew a cardinal on commission, and a theme was born.

Sammons studied art at Maharishi International University in Fairfield, but she says her love of art really grew when she found herself stuck in Germany during the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020.

"I was stuck there. It was during the pandemic," Sammons says. "I was a jewelry designer at the time, and I stopped making jewelry because it felt frivolous. I started making art as a way to kind of get through. I did the 100 Day Challenge, a new drawing every day for 100 days. A lot of my cards and prints are from that time in my life.

"It kind of kicked off this art, you know. I had a gallery reach out to me right after that, and since then, since I got back to the states, I just had galleries reaching out to me."

Sammons uses a wide variety of materials to make her art. For some of her drawings, she uses acrylic wash and then goes over it with gel pens. A statement item at her Studio Osky show is a tree fashioned out of grapevines and red dogwood branches, topped with pieces of Sammons' own hair. She calls the piece "The Blackest Willow Tree."

Sammons isn't quite sure what's next for her, but she knows she wants to continue to pursue art. Studio Osky shares her goal.

"We really wanted to push the arts here," says Lauren Terrell, Studio Osky's owner. "But also, a lot of people who are creatives feel like they can't make money off of it because it's too hard or it's just not reasonably priced, so our whole mission is just to have reasonably priced studios for people to be able to start their own businesses or just have their own space to be able to do their creative work, whatever that may be."

Sammons' work is just the beginning.

Those interested in Studio Osky's work can follow them on Facebook at facebook.com/studioosky.

Channing Rucks can be reached at crucks@oskyherald.com.