The following artists listed were chosen as the "Artist of the Month" for their respective months by the Newnan-Coweta Art Association. Their works were presented in the lobby of City Hall.

Artist of the Month, December 2024

Teresa Foshee

The Newnan-Coweta Art Association (NCAA) has selected Ms. Teresa Foshee as the featured "Artist of the Month" for December. Ms. Foshee's art will be featured in the entry way to Newnan City Hall until December 31st.

Ms. Foshee has always been an artist at heart, but life took her in other directions for a long time.

She’s finally doing what she’s always wanted to do – explore, create, and design! She is a photographer, potter, and sculptor. Growing up in Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri. She always loved to draw, and she remembers as a child spending hours drawing animals from pictures in her parents’ encyclopedias. She took some art classes in high school and then attended Harding University (Searcy, AR). Leaving her studies at the University behind, Ms. Foshee attended Sawyer Business College (St. Louis, MO) to become an Executive Secretary. Upon graduation, she worked as an Administrative Assistant for many years. However, in 2013, Ms. Foshee went back to college to finish the art degree she started so long ago. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Art & Design from LaGrange College in May 2016 (Double Concentration: Photography and Ceramics & Sculpture). Ms. Foshee received The Hope Art History Award in 2015 and 2016 (Art Department, LaGrange College) and The Annie Moore Smith Award in 2016 (Art Department, LaGrange College).

As a photographer, Ms. Foshee enjoys photographing landscapes, architecture, and nature, as well exploring possibilities that lie beyond traditional representational photographs by creating abstract designs with her images. On display are a few of her vibrant and colorful fall photographs for your enjoyment.

Ms. Foshee has had photographs and bas relief tiles juried into several Art and Photography exhibits in Georgia and Alabama and has won several “Best in Photography” awards and “Awards of Merit.” Most recently, Ms. Foshee was awarded “Best in Photography” at the Newnan-Coweta Art Association’s 16th Annual Juried Member Art Exhibit, which was held at The Donald W. Nixon Centre for Performing and Visual Arts in June 2023. She has also had work juried into the Regions Bank Exhibits (Montgomery, AL), “Simple Pleasures” exhibits at the McRitchie-Hollis Museum (Newnan), The Hathaway Contemporary Gallery (Atlanta), The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (Montgomery, AL), and the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center (Auburn, AL). Ms. Foshee’s work has been exhibited at the Vault Gallery (Wadsworth Auditorium, Newnan), Lamar Dodd Art Center (LaGrange), Cochran Gallery (LaGrange), Auburn CityFest (Auburn, AL), the City Hall Gallery (Montgomery, AL), and in a solo show at West Georgia Technical College (Finding Art in Everything). Her photographs are included in the permanent collection at the Lamar Dodd Art Center (LaGrange College) and at the Ida Callaway Hudson Lab Sciences Building (LaGrange College). Ms. Foshee has also had work featured in the Newnan-Coweta Magazine (January/ February issue, 2017); and, she was a Feature Artist for Dinett Hok Magazine, 1st Edition, 2019-2020.

Artist of the Month, November 2024

Bailey Hill

The Newnan-Coweta Art Association (NCAA) selected Bailey Hill as its featured "Artist of the Month" for November. Ms. Hill's art will be featured in the entry way of City Hall until December.

Ms. Hill has always been an artist and studied drawing, painting, and photography. After college she moved to the Pacific Northwest where she spent most of her life exploring, especially Yellowstone National Park, a favorite source of inspiration. She now lives in the countryside of West Central Georgia.

Bailey's love of the great outdoors began in the Appalachian Mountains of North Central West Virginia where she grew up learning the importance of nurturing a connection with nature. Her inspiration springs from her curiosity and fascination with the natural world and the endless sense of awe and wonderment it instills. She is intrigued by the power and beauty of nature's grandeur, intricate details, colors, shapes, and textures that inform her artwork.

She is a representational artist with a twist - she combines realism with abstraction to capture the essence of her subjects. She works primarily with acrylic paint, the world's most versatile, innovative medium. Working with acrylic keeps Bailey's artwork fresh, exciting, and meets the challenges she creates when expressing her vision. The versatility of acrylic enables her to mix mediums - ink, pencil, colored pencil, texture pastes, photography, and thin sheets of Japanese paper. She mimics nature by building multiple layers of media like minerals deposited by a hot spring, and imitates weathering and erosion by rubbing areas with sandpaper. The process creates a history within the work and adds to the illusion of visual depth. She plays with color and lighting to convey a mood, a feeling of awe, and impart a hypnotic effect for the viewer. Although her subjects are specific, it's important that the artwork is open to interpretation, allowing you, the viewer, to find your own meaning and also to make you wonder 'How did she do that?'

Ms. Hill is an award winning, nationally exhibited artist, having participated in many solo and group shows. Most notably, she was juried into the very prestigious "America's Parks Exhibition" where both of her submissions were accepted into the Top 100. This special exhibition toured several museums and galleries around the United States. At the Newnan-Coweta Art Association's 16th Annual Juried Art Show, Bailey won the award for 'Best of Mixed Media'. She also was noted for Honorable Mention in painting at the 17th annual show.

Bailey is a member of NCAA. NCAA's general meetings are held the third Monday of each month (from August through May) at the Harriet Alexander Art Center on Hospital Road at 6:30 p.m. An art demonstration is presented each month. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Artist of the Month, October 2024

Vinayak Godbole

The Newnan-Coweta Art Association (NCAA) has selected Vinayak Godbole as its featured "Artist of the Month" for October. Mr. Godbole’s art will be featured in the entry way to Newnan City Hall throughout the month. 

“I started my art career by painting portraits on commission. I studied portrait and landscape painting in India. In recent years, I switched from oil and watercolor to acrylic and acrylic impasto styles,” shared Mr. Godbole. 

“I donate art to several charitable auctions such as Georgia Lawyers for Arts. I have previously participated in art exhibitions in India's National Centre for Performing Arts, the Mood Indigo cultural festival, and other art shows. My goal is to get my paintings, small and large, on as many walls as possible while also collaborating with designers and galleries.” 

Godbole further shared, “Why some people enjoy or dislike certain paintings has always baffled me. It made me consider how feelings, hues, and a little science relate to one another. In every painting I create, I use color compositions in geometric patterns that allude to landscapes, composing flat color elements in subdued hues to create distances.

“My compositions have a passive tone and gradually elicit a parasympathetic response. In terms of technique, I use colors and texture to guide saccades.” 

Vinayak Godbole is a member of NCAA.  NCAA's general meetings are held the third Monday of each month (from August through May) at the Harriet Alexander Art Center on Hospital Road at 6:30 p.m. An art demonstration is presented each month. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Artist of the Month, September 2024

Sandra Johnson

The Newnan-Coweta Art Association (NCAA) has selected Sandra Johnson as the featured “Artist of the Month” for September 2024. Mrs. Johnson’s artwork will be featured in the entry way of Newnan City Hall until the end of September.

Mrs. Johnson grew up without any formal training in art, but always wished to express herself in some way through art. Some twenty or so years ago, she bought a book and a small easel and some acrylic paints and decided to learn to paint. Without any talent for drawing, she learned that paint could be manipulated to look like she wanted and from then until now she learned the basics.

Mrs. Johnson received art lessons from a local artist, the late Myra Harden, and enjoyed learning and inspiration. Ms. Harden’s encouragement was invaluable. In addition to this, she has participated in workshops, demonstrations, on-line classes, etc.

Our artist has worked in acrylics, oils, pastels, some watercolor, inks and numerous mixed media techniques. She began working in still life, pet portraits, landscapes, and then mixed media and collage. Currently she is producing flowers in strong colors and mixed media pieces that explore all the wonderful effects that collage can bring to a painting. Landscapes are also a current interest that use large canvases and sweeping vistas. Inspiration for her paintings comes from nature and her constant fascination with colors and spatial relationships.

She has been rewarded in her efforts with many ribbons received at local art shows sponsored by NCAA including first and second place ribbons, and an Honorable Mention in 2023 for a mixed media piece in the NCAA’s Juried Show. Many of her paintings are currently found in the collections of local and regional art lovers.

Mrs. Johnson and her husband David, along with their dog Charlie, have lived in the Newnan area for 25 years and are active in their local church.

Mrs. Johnson is a member of the NCAA. The NCAA’s general meetings are held the third Monday of each month from August through May at the Harriet Alexander Art Center, on Hospital Road at 6:30PM. An art demonstration is presented every month. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Artist of the Month, July 2024

Ruth Whitaker

The Newnan Coweta Art Association (NCAA) has selected Ruth Whitaker as the featured “Artist of the Month” this July. Ms. Whitaker’s art will be featured in the entry way to Newnan City Hall throughout the month of July.

Ruth Whitaker has taken acrylic painting classes from noted artist Kay Stanley for the past 13 years. Ruth enjoyed lifestyle drawing classes from well-known artist Martin Pate for eight years. Also, for the last eight years Ruth has followed celebrated pastel artist Karen Margulis, through her blog, Patreon page and assorted workshops. Ruth also has taken workshops from renowned pastel and oil artist Marsha Savage and international pastel artist Tony Allain. She also has done demonstrations for both the NCAA and SOFA associations in Ga. She taught her first Pastel Workshop in November of 2023. Ruth has been a member of the NCAA (Newnan Coweta County Art Association) for twelve years, Appalachian Pastel Society (APS) for the past 8 years, Piedmont Pastel for 2 years, and previously with the Douglasville Cultural Arts Center for 2 years. She has shown in the NCAA Juried Art Show at The Center for Performing Arts in Newnan for over ten years. Ruth participated in the Thomaston Art and Soul Festival for the past two years, as a Plein Aire participant in their Juried Contest. She received two 3rd place ribbons the first year and honorable mention the second year.

She currently displays her works at Christy’s Diner, the Carnegie Building and ANM Styles Hair Salon , all here in Newnan. Ruth’s latest endeavor was a one-person gallery show in Thomaston at the TUAC Gallery for the months of April and May 2024. Ruth’s mediums are acrylic and pastel painting. She also enjoys some mixed media. She is grateful to God for the unexpected gift and joy of painting. For over 35 years she has resided with her husband Don in Newnan.

Ms. Whitaker is a member of NCAA. The NCAA’s general meetings are held the third Monday of each month (from May-August) at the Harriet Alexander Art Center, on Hospital Rd. at 6:30p.m. An art demonstration is presented each month. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Artist of the Month, June 2024

Bette Schumann

The Newnan-Coweta Art Association (NCAA) has selected Bette Schumann as its featured “Artist of the Month” for June. Mrs. Schumann’s art will be featured in the entry way to Newnan City Hall until July.

The daughter of a professional artist, art has always been woven in and out of Bette’s life in various forms. She has painted everything from murals on armoires to church buses, stenciled walls in homes, designed and painted yard ornaments, and a lot of commissioned work from pets to Irish golfers. Most of her paintings are from photographs she takes herself or en plein-air. She especially enjoys the challenge of portraiture. “It is so exciting when the personality of the subject is suddenly there, often with the tiniest brushstroke.” Recently, her pet portraits have become quite popular.

Bette paints primarily in oil, has been awarded numerous ribbons in art shows, has had several of her works selected to hang in the Georgia Capitol Building in Atlanta, the Wadsworth Auditorium in Newnan, and has been juried into the Itinerant Gallery in Carrollton, GA, the Jackalope Gallery in Carrollton, GA., Southern River’s Gallery in Pine Mountain, GA, and the Bradley Street Gallery in Carrollton, GA. She is a member of the Newnan-Coweta Art Association and the Portrait Society of America. Her art is featured in Morgan Jewelers on Hwy 34 in Newnan.

She paints, as she does everything else in her life, for the glory of God.

Bette Schumann is a member of NCAA. NCAA’s general meetings are held the third Monday of each month (from August through May) at the Harriet Alexander Art Center on Hospital Road at 6:30 p.m. An art demonstration is presented each month. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Artist of the Month, May 2024

Chelita Freeman

The Newnan-Coweta Art Association (NCAA) has selected Chelita Freeman as its featured “Artist of the Month” for May. Ms. Freeman’s art will be featured in the entry way of Newnan City Hall (25LaGrange Street) throughout the month.

Born in West Virginia and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Ms. Freeman moved to Georgia in 1964. She married Walter C. Freeman Jr. and had three children. Ms. Freeman started oil painting in the late 1960’s. She is a certified teacher of Tole & Decorative Painting, and Wet on Wet Landscape Techniques. She loves teaching and currently offers classes at her home studio in Franklin and at the Harriet Alexander Art Center in Newnan.

Chelita teaches Tole & Decorative Painting using oils. In her classes, she instructs how to paint flowers, fruits, and vegetables; Background Techniques such as stain, seal, pickling; Graduated Backgrounds from dark to light; Leaves in full detail; Basic Brush Strokes with both the round and flat brush; Double-Loading techniques and Dry Brush Blending; and Proper Paint Consistency.

In her Wet on Wet Landscape Techniques classes, she instructs students how to use painting in oils on canvas (also known as quick landscaping in oils) to see things much differently. Colors will look bright and more vivid than before. Students learn how to paint mountains, trees, water, skies, meadows, rocks, logs, barns, fences, oceans, waves, sunsets, and sunrises.

Ms. Freeman is a member of NCAA. NCAA's general meetings are held the third Monday of each month (from August -through May) at the Harriet Alexander Art Center on Hospital Road at 7:00 p.m. An art demonstration is presented each month. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Artists of the Month, April 2024

Avery Vigh, Kingsley Wimer, & Emma Manning

The Newnan-Coweta Art Association (NCAA) is pleased to feature one student from each of Coweta’s High Schools as its featured "Artist (s) of the Month" for April. The art of East Coweta High School’s Avery Vigh, North Gate High School’s Kingsley Wimer and Newnan High School’s Emma Manning will be featured in the entry way to Newnan City Hall until the end of April. 

East Coweta High School‘s–Avery Vigh shared, “My view on art is just an expression of creativity, or something that brings more life and interest into the world. It can be meaningful, or entirely random and fun. It can also just be an interpretation or recreation of what I see. Things that I find beautiful or intriguing inspire me. People are often the most fascinating subject to me, making them the theme of many of my pieces. Capturing my impression of a person or a moment and portraying them in a captivating way is exciting for me. Being able to turn things that I love into art allows me to preserve the feeling or appreciation I had for my subject. Not only that, but the satisfaction I get from seeing my work improve in different forms and media compels me to keep creating. I am constantly learning new things and challenging myself. As I get more comfortable branching out with new materials and continue to refine my skills, the more pleasurable the process becomes. Each new piece is more rewarding than the last, which I find exhilarating."

North Gate High School‘s–Kingsley Wimer has been creating art for her entire life. She has recently, however, taken a bigger interest in taking formal art classes to increase her repertoire of artistic skills and techniques. Kingsley is one of Northgate High School’s Governor's Honors Program nominees and State semi-finalists in the area of Visual Arts. Her favorite media to work with are watercolor, graphite, and pen. Taking most of her inspiration from wildlife, her favorite subject matter is animals interacting with each or their surrounding habitat. Kingsley would like to obtain an art degree in college and become a scientific illustrator, thus combining her love of art, science, and wildlife. 

Newnan High School’s Emma Manning is a Senior at who plans to attend Savannah College of Art and Design to pursue an undergraduate degree in Preservation Design. Throughout her high school career, Emma has taken almost every single class that the Newnan High School Art Department has to offer, which includes taking two years of AP Studio Art. Emma’s favorite medium, and one that she has only recently discovered, has been the underrated world of oil pastels. She specializes in zoomed in, heavily detailed portraits, all on canvases of extremely large dimensions. She discovered the magic of this medium early on in the year, and the growth that her works have displayed since such a magical discovery has been astronomical. Emma eagerly anticipates the next artistic chapter at SCAD in the fall. She feels as though this era of her life is only the beginning of something artistically magical, and she cannot wait to see what else that her creative journey has in store. 

NCAA offers discount memberships to students. NCAA’s general meetings are held the third Monday of each month (from August through May) at the Harriet Alexander Art Center on Hospital Road at 6:30 in the evening. An art demonstration is presented each month. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Artist of the Month, March 2024

Denise Marsh

The Newnan-Coweta Art Association (NCAA) has selected Denise Marsh as its featured “Artist of the Month” for March 2024. Mrs. Marsh’s art will be featured in the entry way to Newnan City Hall until the end of March.

Mrs. Marsh grew up without art in the public schools she attended and was not exposed to art until she took a required art survey course at university. Mrs. Marsh shared, “It rocked my world! I declared my major to art education and never looked back. I loved talking about art and teaching my students the basics of art education.”

Before retiring from teaching, she began taking studio classes in order to create, rather than simply demo for her students. She loves color and began with pastel and moved into acrylics and has now landed in creating with oils. She paints outside and in studio. As Mrs. Marsh began to paint she wondered what would inspire her. As she reviewed her work the answer was clear: landscapes. “The play of light on even the simplest scene evokes such strong emotion; I want to capture it on my canvas.”

Lately her subject matter has become more diverse as well as returning to acrylics, watercolor and pastel. She enjoys florals and small canvases rather than much larger works. Mrs. Marsh enjoys painting whatever captures her interest at the moment. “Inspiration comes from the world as God created it.”

After attending schools in DeKalb County, she moved to Coweta County in 1981 with her husband Tom and children. She returned to college in her late 30’s to complete her degree.

While still teaching she began taking pastel classes at night in Newnan at a local art studio.

Mrs. Marsh’s work has been shown at the University of West Georgia alumni Biannual 2021 where she won 1st place, NCAA Annual Shows finishing in the top 10 over the last 3 years. She has been featured on Carrollton Art Alliance Flyer and Power 2020, Forgotten Coast Quik Draw – 2nd place 2019. Showcased in Dinett Hok’s first published catalog, First Place, 2021 University of West Georgia Bi-annual alumni Exhibit. Frequently display and sell art at Newnan’s Art walks, Featured Artist of City of Moreland’s July 4 BBQ, 2022.

Mrs. Marsh is a member of NCAA. NCAA’s general meetings are held on the third Monday of each month (August – May) at the Harriet Alexander Art Center on Hospital Road at 7:00 p.m. An art demonstration is presented each month. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Artist of the Month, February 2024

Margo Merrifield

Creating art has always been a part of my life, even more so since retiring from the (non-art) working world several years ago. My art-based education has been a combination of several casual classes in oils, pastels, and watercolor over many years. Since I love to try new techniques and mediums online (You Tube) courses are a great teaching aide. My works include landscapes, architectural, select portraits, and recently images leaning toward fantasy. My mediums are acrylic, watercolor, oils, vinyl block prints, and any craft that catches my interest ( I should own stock in Hobby Lobby and Michaels!). My style is sometimes very detailed but often leaning toward an impressionistic flair. I have been a key designer of murals for Coweta County DFACS, Pathways and the city of Sharpsburg. I enjoy painting on location (plein aire), but often my phone serves as a great camera to capture interesting reference scenes. My membership with the Newnan-Coweta Art Association has created many opportunities to display my work. I’ve also been a board member for most of my fifteen plus years with NCAA. An art demonstration ( by either members or local professionals) is presented each month. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Artist of the Month, January 2024

Teresa Foshee

The Newnan-Coweta Art Association (NCAA) chose Teresa Foshee as the featured “Artist of the Month” for January. Ms. Foshee’s art will be featured in the entry way of Newnan City Hall until January 31.

Ms. Foshee has always been an artist at heart, but life took her in other directions for a long time. She is finally doing what she has always wanted to do – explore, create, and design. Ms. Foshee is a photographer, potter, and sculptor. She grew up in Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri. She always loved to draw and as a child she remembers spending hours drawing animals from pictures in her parents’ encyclopedias. She took some art classes in high school and then attended Harding University (Searcy, AR). Leaving her studies at the University behind, Ms. Foshee attended Sawyer Business College (St. Louis, MO) to become an Executive Secretary. Upon graduation, she worked as an Administrative Assistant for many years. In 2013 she went back to college to finish the art degree she started so long ago. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Art & Design from LaGrange College in May 2016 (Double Concentration: Photography and Ceramics & Sculpture). Teresa received The Hope Art History Award in 2015 and 2016 (Art Department, LaGrange College) and The Annie Moore Smith Award in 2016 (Art Department, LaGrange College).

As a photographer, Ms. Foshee is exploring possibilities that lie beyond traditional representational photographs by creating unique abstract designs with her images. She first became interested in the idea of working with multiple images, when she took some pictures of her grandson’s snake and delved into the utilization of negative space. From those images, she created her first two photographic abstracts. That experience largely contributed to her pursuit of combining images using other subject matter such as architectural aspects, parts of old vehicles, and even some elements of nature.

Ms. Foshee has had photographs and bas relief tiles juried into several Art and Photography exhibits in Georgia and Alabama and has won several “Best in Photography” awards and “Awards of Merit.” Most recently, she was awarded “Best in Photography” at the Newnan-Coweta Art Association’s 16th Annual Juried Member Art Exhibit, which was held at The Donald W. Nixon Centre for Performing and Visual Arts in June, 2023. She has also had work juried into the Regions Bank Exhibits (Montgomery, AL), “Simple Pleasures” exhibits at the McRitchie-Hollis Museum (Newnan), The Hathaway Contemporary Gallery (Atlanta), The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (Montgomery, AL), and the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center (Auburn, AL). Her work has been exhibited at the Vault Gallery (Wadsworth Auditorium, Newnan), Lamar Dodd Art Center (LaGrange), Cochran Gallery (LaGrange), Auburn CityFest (Auburn, AL), the City Hall Gallery (Montgomery, AL), and in a solo show at West Georgia Technical College (Finding Art in Everything). Her photographs are included in the permanent collection at the Lamar Dodd Art Center (LaGrange College) and at the Ida Callaway Hudson Lab Sciences Building (LaGrange College). She has also had work featured in the Newnan-Coweta Magazine (January/ February issue, 2017); and, she was a Feature Artist for Dinett Hok Magazine, 1st Edition, 2019-2020.

Currently, Ms. Foshee has photography on display at Due South Seafood Kitchen – The Loft (Peachtree City), and the Carnegie Library (Newnan), and she has pottery pieces on display at the Newnan Plaza Pharmacy (Newnan Hospital Annex). Her photography, bas relief tiles, and pottery were recently on display at the Peachtree City Library as a solo artist for the NCAA (September/October, 2023), and her pottery was also recently on display at the Carnegie Library (November/December, 2023), and the Franklin Library (September/October, 2023). Her photographs have also been displayed at the Newnan Theatre Company (Black Box Theatre), Southern Arc Dance (Newnan), and Burson ENT (Newnan), and she has had her photography and bas relief tiles on display at the Administration Building, Newnan (Art at the Admin).

Ms. Foshee is a member of NCAA. NCAA’s general meetings are held the third Monday of each month (August through May) at the Harriet Alexander Art Center on Hospital Road at 6:30 PM. An art demonstration is presented each month. Visitors and new members are always welcome.