<Begin Segment 28>

PW: Well, okay, so you're saying eleven, twelve years of very intensive ceramic work, then what happened?

RO: Then I found out that you spend, if you're making a tea pot, you make the body, you make the lid, you make the spout, you make the handle, and you put all these things together, and how much can you make? Fifty dollars, maybe, twenty-five dollars? And I realized that, gee, I work in the garage, in my house, and so on, and I produce all this work, and all of a sudden you realize it's not worth your time. I still love making pots, but there was always this desire, seeing what was happening with art in America, continuing on and moving, and also because I was still teaching at the high school, and trying to introduce your students to what was happening. So then, at that point, I said, "I want to have a studio aside from my garage." So I eventually found a studio that was on H Street, it was an upstairs lot. Originally it was a weigh station, because there was a weight meter outside, and people would, I guess, bring their wares, goods and so on, and it would be weighed because it's right next to the tracks there. But then I found that there was a space upstairs that was open, but this guy I knew who taught at the university was a painting instructor. And he had a studio out there, and I did not know that until I found out, then, "Oh, yeah, that might be a possible place." So eventually I acquired a portion of the upstairs loft, and so that's where painting became very crucial for me. Then I thought, "Well, how do I move, make this transition from ceramics into clay?" How do you become a painter? You work in isolation, there's nothing to do, so I thought, well, how do I do this? I remember going to San Francisco with an armload of slides. Thirty-five millimeter slides, and maybe a small painting, and trying to hit as man galleries as I could that would be generally sympathetic to what my work looked like.

PW: Ceramics, correct?

RO: No, this was slides of small paintings.

PW: Paintings, okay.

RO: So then that's one of these things where he says, "Don't call us, we'll call you," kind of thing. Then I said, "Okay, what else can I do?" And I realized at the state of California, that there were these competitions that were afforded prizes. And so this was the trend then, so I started applying. I knew you would send in a slide and twenty-five dollars for this competition that's happening here or there or wherever, mostly in northern California. And I often speak to former people and so on, I said, well, I wish I had saved all of the rejection slips I had gotten from competitions and so on. But you just kind of keep at it, and all of a sudden this one says, "Gee, you've been accepted into this competition." And what, there might be twenty-five artists that were selected, maybe two hundred applied for that. So that kind of sets you up a little bit, saying, "Wow, maybe what I'm doing is kind of worthwhile, maybe people are creating interest." And at that point, the work was getting out, I was introduced to more and more places. Eventually I had, my daughter was going to Bates College in May and so on, and then they had convinced me that I should then have a show there, apparently the people that were running the school in that section of the department and so on, so then I sent a whole bunch of paintings there to be shown at a show at the college. And then after a month or so on, they came back, they were stuck in my garage.

Meanwhile, I had entered this competition called The Art of California, and anybody could apply for this. And what had happened was that they had jurors from different parts of the state. And so then the first time I applied, I was accepted to that, and they published a book with all the people that applied. Then I applied again, then I won one of the first prizes, and so they focus on your work when you do that. Then what happens, these are sent out to all the galleries in California. So this guy from Palo Alto area called me and said, "Hey, I saw your work in this magazine, I'd like to come see your work." I said, "Yeah, sure." Well, he made a lot of money in real estate in Palo Alto in that whole area south of San Francisco, and so he says, "Well, I'm a collector and I have collected a lot of contemporary work, and I want to start a gallery in San Francisco." Meanwhile, I had been trying to convince other galleries to handle my work, and this was going on at that time and so on. So anyway, he came down and I pulled out all these paintings, and he said, "I'm interested in mid-career painters. I don't want new MFAs because I don't know their... I want artists to show that have a body of work that reflects the continuation and their interest in painting." So he says, "That's what I'm looking for. I saw your work and I thought, oh, I'd like you to be a part of this stable." So that completely changed everything. When someone now handles the work, they get their fifty percent, but they certainly earn it. Now they're inviting people to come, collectors, and you realized that, oh. Because I think for most artists who are independent artists, how do you manage today? You have Instagram and the internet, but otherwise, you're almost dependent on galleries. That doesn't happen much. The brick and mortar spaces are all kind of going on the wayside because the internet allows that to happen. I mean, even in San Francisco, with the galleries there, even 49 Geary is almost deserted, there's a couple galleries there. But now it's moved over to Minnesota Avenue, Minnesota Street, where they've developed these warehouses and a lot of activity over there.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.