Kimestry

Ojai, California has many treasures: sunset and the pink moment over the Topa Topa Mountains, Meditation Mount, the Arcade, Bart's Books, and more. There is no treasure so great, however, as Finnish artist Otto Heino. When Pablo Picasso went looking for the greatest ceramic artists in the world, he found Otto. At ninety four, Otto still works fifteen hour days and sleeps only four hours per night. This summer when I met Otto at his home and studio, he shared that he wakes every day at four. I couldn't help thinking of George Washington Carver, who awoke every day at four, went out into nature, and had a talk with God. I wondered if all creative souls got their inspiration at four in the morning. Otto's bright eyes twinkled as he described clients who have flown in from Texas to purchase plates he created valued at twenty thousand dollars each. He smiled and his voice showed that even he is astounded that people pay so much money for a plate. Otto's work is so valuable b