Assemblage artists create artworks by assembling found, everyday and discarded objects, often in three-dimensional form, into a single composition. Instead of traditional materials, they use items such as wood, metal, fabric, tools, photographs, packaging, scraps and personal artifacts to create something new.
On Sunday, March 29, we’ll spend an intimate day inside the working studios of three remarkable artists — not as visitors, but as welcomed guests. A catered lunch and beverages will be provided. It’s a shared experience of presence, process, and connection. Saffron is extending a personal invitation to collectors and other kindred spirits.
About the Artists
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Annie Marini-Genzon is a talented artist who works across various visual disciplines, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, and installations. She is known for her vibrant paintings and captivating sculptures. Annie's work features dynamic compositions and a rich visual vocabulary that explores themes of boldness and subtlety. Her pieces are created through labor-intensive processes and reflect her personal search for meaning in life. By incorporating metaphors and symbolism, Annie's art challenges traditional definitions of contemporary art and expands the boundaries of imagination.
Her work has been widely exhibited in both solo and group shows, including notable venues such as the Ontario Museum of Art in Ontario, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, and the Zimmer Children's Museum. At the Zimmer Children's Museum, she was commissioned to create sculptures that evoke themes of the art of music, the art of vision, the art of communication, and the art of harmony. Her work is also part of the permanent collection at the Novosibirsk State Art Museum in Russia.
Additionally, her art is included in the permanent collection of the Asociación Cultural Ruiz Aznar in Granada, Spain, as well as the Premio Concurso Internacional de Artes Plásticas "Compositor Antonio Guada" in Granada, Spain. Her artworks belong in collections throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. -
Ramona Otto retired from being a full-time teacher of gifted children at a private school seven years ago. Otto, now a self-taught artist, starts with a concept then a search for vintage treasures at flea markets, yard sales, and antique shops. Collecting the materials for each themed piece often takes many years and provides her with many “thrill of the hunt” moments. Otto loves a treasure hunt: the preparation, organization, and research involved in searching for hidden gems, the thrill of finding the unexpected, and the payoff of completing a time-consuming endeavor.
Ramona’s studio contains several “cabinets of wonder” to keep everything organized. It is a time-consuming endeavor to put all her finds into the proper place and prepare the items to become art material. When she works on a “bling” piece, Otto surrounds herself with piles of jewelry with a combination of infinite possibilities. Searching for pieces with the right shape to convey the right idea is very much like completing a puzzle without a picture to guide her. “I love including “Easter eggs” within the design which are hidden images and messages placed within the object to be discovered for the pleasure of those with expert knowledge. I include references to culture, literature, patriotism, spirituality, and social commentary. Each time I find something that will work perfectly, my heart skips a beat”.
Otto learned about making “things out of things” from her father. While growing up on a farm in a family of Iowa Quakers, money was always tight. Out of necessity, her dad became a farm “MacGyver”, fixing broken farm equipment with whatever he could find in his scrapheap. He also was a folk artist. He would make letters out of old horseshoes, turn old pieces of wood on his lathe to make small pieces of furniture, and make little sculptures with his welder. His garage workshop was where Otto learned to use found objects and where she developed a sense of responsibility to rescue old things and give them a new life.
The inspiration for Otto’s artwork is based on stories, themes, family adventures, and word play. Otto makes pieces that she would want in her own home. Often, personal items are included in the materials so that the art becomes a scrapbook of her nostalgic memories.
Since becoming a full-time artist, Otto has had several solo shows and participated in numerous group shows. In 2022, her work earned the Lubbock Arts Festival a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts for exceptional work. Otto recently debuted her latest work, Holy Cow: Pray for Peaceful Co-Existence, at the 2023 LA Art Show. It was featured in the Argonaut: News and Culture and was one of 5 works highlighted in the press from the LA Art Show.
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Some lucky people are born with an artistic destiny preordained by an auspicious ancestry. In the case of ceramic artist, Joan Takayama-Ogawa, once this destiny revealed itself, her passion for achieving that destiny was unstoppable. She decided to take a ceramics class, and soon uncovered her family’s connection to clay dating back to the 15th century. Her newly discovered love of ceramic sculpture soon became an obsession, and she left her middle school teaching position to pursue a career in the ceramic arts at the Otis College of Art and Design.
Takayama-Ogawa is an internationally renowned artist who uses ancient Japanese ceramic forms as a guide in creating contemporary pieces with decorating and imagery drawn from an American lifestyle. Currently, she works as a professor of Ceramics, Product Design, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Creative Action at the Otis College of Art and Design. She has served as a Pasadena Design Commissioner and a member of the American Museum of Ceramic Art Board of Directors. Her ceramics are included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, DeYoung Museum of Fine Arts, World Ceramic Exposition Foundation in Korea, Leewarden Princesshoff Ceramic Museum in the Netherlands, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, Brooklyn Art Museum, Stanford Art Museum, Racine Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California, Long Beach Museum of Art, Arizona State University Ceramic Research Center, Utah State Art Museum, and the American Museum of Ceramic Art.
Join Us
$50/person — lunch + beverages included
Ride share potential upon registration; contact john@saffronartsandculture.org for further details.