Latest news with #Ramm
Los Angeles Times
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Newport Beach artist transforms children's drawings into collages that ‘pop'
Art adorns much of the space in C.C. Knowles' Corona del Mar home. It's eclectic, and also deeply personal, as Knowles created it all herself. She's proud of the output, but she knows it's not marketable. Her best friend from college, Julie Teel, would sometimes offer good-natured ribbing, telling her that she needed to find something that people wanted to buy. During one commiserating session, Teel told Knowles she should create collages based on children's drawings. That suggestion led to Knowles' new business, Attic to Art, was launched last fall. Empty nesters can now have full walls, as Knowles puzzles and converts their children's scribblings into art pieces with a wood base that are highly displayable. Georgianne Ramm of Newport Beach is a happy customer. Her daughters Katie and Kelly are both now in their mid-20s, but Ramm had much of their artwork from nearly two decades ago at Andersen Elementary School just sitting in her attic. 'I had asked my daughters at Christmastime, 'Do you guys want this stuff?'' Ramm said. 'They were like, 'Throw it away.' But then I saw what C.C. had done for my friend Tracy, so I went through the art.' Knowles produced a 36-inch by 36-inch piece for each daughter, and Ramm gifted them to Katie and Kelly as Easter presents. Her hope is that down the road, it will be in their babies' nurseries as a generational gift. 'C.C. is so talented, and she did such an incredible job,' Ramm said. 'She positioned things well. The whole process was really cool. Cutting everything, sorting it, positioning it. She would always email me pictures and ask my opinion.' Knowles said she's made about 36 collages so far through Attic to Art and she's constantly working on more in her home studio. The retired elementary school teacher started off testing out pieces with her own children, Olivia, a junior at USC and Kaelen, an incoming senior at Corona del Mar High School. Parents will typically drop off buckets of their children's artwork at her home, often putting Post-it notes on pieces that they want to have featured and are important to them. Knowles keeps them involved through the process of creating their order, which usually takes about two to three weeks. She enjoys the process of puzzling the art, but there's more to it than that. She adds color to sketches that are on white paper with paint. 'It's not just a bunch of stuff shoved together,' she said. 'I'm looking for it to make not so much a story, but just a good flow. Is it kind of funny? Are there pieces right next to each other that make you laugh or are such a weird juxtaposition that they're funny?' When the art is formed and the parents have approved, Knowles tacks the piece with a quick-drying glue before applying two rounds of Mod Podge, a glue, sealer and finish. Finally, she'll apply paper tape on the piece before spray painting the sides in her garage. The final step is two coats of resin epoxy, which makes the piece 'pop' and also protects it. She signs the back of the collage, but also notes there that the art was created by the child and collected by the parent. Knowles said she charges $100 per square foot, but the result is often priceless for her clients. 'There's something so special about it,' said Leslie Ann Harty, a Newport Beach mother who had two art pieces made featuring work by her 10-year-old daughter, Everly. Harty said she painted the wall in her living room matte black, so that the artwork really stands out. 'When you're looking at it, it's like you're having a long-lost conversation with your child when they were 3, 4, 5 years old, you know?' she said. 'You remember that time. Who doesn't want to save that feeling forever?' Colleen Taricani does. She has known Knowles for about 15 years and said she was one of the first Attic to Art clients, getting a pair of pieces done for her college-age children, Joey and Kate. 'Not only are they just these modern, amazing pieces of art, but they highlight the essence of each of my children in a profound way,' Taricani said. 'This whole project was so perfect for C.C. to take on, because it's using things that have already been created and then turning them into something else. That's her sweet spot in all of the art that she creates.' Knowles said she's thought about renting studio space elsewhere, but at this point the business remains a home-based operation. Of course, that can mean some growing pains. Last December, she accidentally left a 5-gallon jug of resin epoxy on the floor of her garage, then pulled her car in. The walls and items in the Knowles family garage have been a lot stickier since that day. 'It's a huge mess,' she said with a laugh. 'My husband hates what I've done to our garage.' She can rest easy knowing that her clients love the creations she makes out of items that were often long-forgotten. 'I'm happy that I got to know a lot of people that are kind of in the same boat I'm in.' she said. 'Our kids are leaving us, and we're trying to figure out where we are now in life. We're not old, we're not young. We're still parents, but we're not parenting as much. I've met a lot of kindred spirits through doing this.'
BBC News
01-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ealing and Exeter make Premiership Cup semi-finals
Exeter Chiefs will host Championship leaders Ealing Trailfinders in the semi-final of the Premiership Rugby Cup after both sides came through their last-eight Chiefs demolished Sale 50-14 at Sandy Park, scoring four first half-tries through Josh Hodge, Paul Brown-Bampoe and two from Tom Wyatt. Sale responded through Arron Reed's effort before further tries from Brown-Bampoe, Greg Fisilau and Jacques Vermuelen put the match beyond the shocked the Saints, who made six changes for the match, to win 43-26 in a exciting game at Franklin's Gardens. In a breathless first half, the teams exchanged scores before efforts from George Davis and Reuben Bird-Tulloch put the visitors up by 10 points at the break. Following Iakopo Mapu's red card, Ealing scored further tries through Tom Collins and Angus Kernohan before James Ramm grabbed a consolation score for the Saints by completing his their respective victories over Gloucester and Harlequins on Friday night, Newcastle will host Bath in the other semi-final, with both ties due to take place on Saturday, 8 March. Ealing started full of purpose against their more illustrious opponents, scoring two early repeated phases, Lefty Zigiriadis powered over from close range before Tobi Wilson broke down the wing to release the former Saints player Collins to dot responded quickly, with Rory Hutchinson feeding the rampaging George Hendy, who shrugged off Ealing defenders to reach out and plant the ball over the Bird-Tulloch's yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, Saints struck again with Hendy once again in the action before offloading to Ramm to go over for the Saints' second restored their lead with a Dan Jones penalty before Ramm struck again following a break from Tom then replied for the visitors with a close range effort before Bird-Tulloch secured Ealing's fourth try, accelerating through a gap in the Saints defence to waltz went from bad to worse for Saints when Mapu was sent-off for a high tackle on Mike Willemse, before Collins secured his second try following a precise chip over the top from added a sixth score for the away side before Ramm's third try restored some semblance of pride for the home result sees Ealing reach the semi-finals of the competition for the second year running. Exeter see off disappointing Sharks Looking to win the competition for a second time in two years, Exeter got out of the blocks quickly against their northern opponents, scoring the match's opening try through Wyatt, following skilful build-up play from were briefly back on level terms following Reed's burst down the wing, before Hodge cut a fine line through Sharks' defenders to restore the home side's added a third, outpacing the cover from 20 metres out, before Wyatt crashed over for his second, despite the attentions of multiple Sharks defenders, as half-time continued their assault on the Sale try-line in the second half with Brown-Bampoe strolling in for Exeter's fifth just after the break, having been released by and Vermuelen then forced themselves over from close range for nearly identical tries as the Chiefs hit 50 points, before Tumy Onasanya scored the Sharks' only points of the half with a try as the clock ran out.
BBC News
28-01-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Premiership table 'not a pretty sight' for Saints
Northampton Saints wing James Ramm has admitted that the Premiership table is "not a pretty sight" for the club at the present won their first title for 10 years last season, but Friday's defeat by Harlequins left them eighth in the Premiership, nine points outside the play-off have won five out of 11 games so far and only have seven left to try and close that gap and finish in the top four to make the play-offs."The mentality we are taking into this now is that everyone has written us off, and we love being underdogs so let's go and prove them wrong," the Australian told BBC Radio several players away on Six Nations duty, Northampton have the consolation of a break in the Premiership until 21 have turned their attention instead to the Premiership Rugby Cup, which they won in 2019, and an opening game against East Midlands rivals Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on Saturday."I love it as a competition. When I first came over, I played probably four or five PRC games before playing a Prem game," Ramm added."It's a really good level, it's not too much of a step down, so there are only positives from the PRC for me."He continued: "We don't overlook this (competition) at all. It's really important to us, and to put ourselves in a position to win silverware would be huge."But also for bringing momentum back into the Prem and Europe, this is such a good six-week block for that." Leicester won 24-8 when the two teams met in the league as Tommy Freeman's late try for Saints was no more than a consolation."The fans (at Welford Road) - how can I put this nicely - are quite vocal, and you can feel that atmosphere where this isn't just a normal game," Ramm said."You do really feel that intensity and for those younger boys to experience that this weekend will stand them in good stead."Director of rugby Phil Dowson does not believe that Northampton's struggles in the league will "up the ante" for his team in the cup."The whole MO of the club is about developing players, in terms of our recruitment, in terms of how hard we lean on the academy... and this is their opportunity to put a Saints shirt on and step up to that next level, show us what they've learned," he said."This is not just important in terms of them achieving something as a group of players, but it's important for them to show where they are on the ladder and put down a statement, to make a claim for a shirt moving forwards."Dowson expects Saints to come out of the cup games "humming" and ready to "give it a hell of a shot" in their remaining league fixtures."We're on 26 points, there's 35 left, that gets us to 61 points and we only got 60 (in the regular season) last year," he added."There's loads of points out there but it's a very competitive league and we have to start turning that corner, and we will do."
