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By CJ Hines Elementary school teacher Ramona (Ratcliff) Otto enjoys ‘show and tell’ as much as her students.
“My art is kid-friendly. Every time I finish a piece, I take it in to class. They’ve seen everything,” said Otto (BA ’71), who has been at Mirman since 1987. Prior to that, she taught for 16 years at Shimek School in Iowa City.
“UNI was a great calling card when I applied for my first teaching job. Iowa City was a very competitive market. People told me I’d never get a job in the district without experience,” said Otto, who now lives in Santa Monica. “Because the neighborhood included so many U of I professors and hospital staff, there were lots of gifted students in my class. Shimek gave me the credibility to be hired at Mirman, one of the rare gifted private schools in the nation.”
Until about 10 years ago, Otto created small art pieces, such as pins made from broken vintage jewelry. She ‘got braver’ about 10 years ago, when she and her husband, Steve, vacationed in Hawaii at the home of friends, musician Graham Nash and his wife, Susan.
“I taught their kids at school and we became friends. We were at their home in Kauai,” Otto said. “I found a table on Lumahi Beach on Christmas Day. It was upside down in the bushes and the top was rotten. It had probably been painted by a hippie in the 1960s. It had that look. Either it floated in as beach trash or someone brought it down for a picnic or camping.
“A friend of ours makes really cool furniture out of recycled pieces and I was going to give it back to him to recycle. Steve said, ‘Why don’t you make something out of it?’”
She and Steve flew home with the table, and now it has a new life, complete with a glass top and beach-combing items. |
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Otto’s art can include anything from watch parts, pennies, keys, tickets and china to an antique cash register drawer and hotel keys. Many of her pieces involve play on words. For example, “Watch Dogs,” life-size sculptures of two dogs, are made from old watch parts, dog tags, 1940s figurines, vintage jewelry and dog- and time-related buttons, charms and trinkets, which took three years to collect.
“Watch Dogs” appeared with her in an ad for the American Cancer Society, which appeared in 10 national magazines, including People, Newsweek, Time and Ladies Home Journal.
“It was the first time I saw ‘artist’ next to my name in print,” she said. “That was good exposure. The campaign theme was ‘Things to do now that I’m 50,’ and it featured people who had turned 50 who weren’t sitting around. Vera Wang did one and they show her on the roof in New York City. Mine is a picture of me with the dogs. They built a set in Griffith Park.”
Otto uses traditional folk-art themes, such as flags, hearts and hands, but makes them her own by the unique materials. One of her Americana flags, made from old Scrabble tiles, displays the words to the song, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” She made the piece for the Nashes, which will be featured in David Crosby’s newest CD, “Voyage.”
“I made the flag for Graham and Susan because they play Scrabble all the time,” Otto said. “They’re very big supporters of my art. Graham produced David’s CD and recommended my flag for the booklet.” |
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| Gardenian Angel, made of broken china, vintage salt and pepper shakers, plates and figurines, will be on the cover of a recently released CD, “Trinity,” by movie composer, record producer and musician Clair Marlo. |
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Otto’s first museum showing, “An American Love Story: Works by Ramona Otto,” was recently exhibited at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, and was displayed as an abstract house with a living room, bedroom, kitchen and studio/office.
“All the furniture and personal items I’ve made out of found objects for our home can be displayed in a cozy setting. Also included is a selection from the 80 American flags I made from recycled and vintage objects,” she said.
She’s also had pieces in area festivals, such as Tar Fest, which takes place on the grounds of the La Brea Tar Pits. |
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| Ramona presented a flag made of tickets to “The Price is Right” host Bob Barker. | ||
“It’s actually a city museum. The tar pits were where they found a lot of bones from saber tooth cats and wooly mammoth, because they got stuck. There’s a festival every year. There’s a film festival, music festival and then there’s the art portion. I entered that for the first time a couple of years ago,” she said.
Otto’s success comes through word of mouth; a lot of it from Mirman parents who either know someone or are in a position to make things happen.
“It’s been that way, someone who has seen my things, like one of the parents at school, told City Hall about my flags and one thing leads to another thing. The more you do the more confident you are,” she said. “It’s nice living in LA, there’s a lot of stuff going on, I’m sure that helps. There are opportunities in a bigger place.”
In school and with her art, Otto uses the Four Keys to Success: social skills, perseverance, creativity and academics. She knows if a student is having problems, she can relate it to the keys.
“I have to have those keys when I’m making a piece as well. I have to be organized and creative,” she said. “I also have to use what I’ve learned and persevere. That becomes a very good model. I try to work on my art for 20 to 30 minutes every night. If you do that and do it consistently you get a lot done. I’m like the tortoise, I keep going.” |
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