About Otto: A Life History
Otto Heino is a true working craftsman, his life and work shaped by the craft movement of the post-World-War II studio craft movement. 
Otto, originally from New Hampshire, served in World War II. He was a waist gunner on a B-17 bomber and survived 40 bombing missions over Europe, with an extended enlistment of five and a half years.
Left: Otto (center) shown here and above with his plane, "Old Crow."
After the war and seeking some tranquillity, Otto began his career as an artist. He spent time in England at Bernard Leach's studio, one of the avant gard ceramists of the time. He later met Vivika, his wife of 47 years, as a student of hers in New York.
Attracted to the life-style of the craftsman, he remained true to his vision of pursuing excellence in the art of clay as a potter and sharing his productivity with others.
Award-winning Ceramics
Otto has received the high distinction of a gold medal from the Sixth Biennial International de Ceramique at Vallauris, France in 1978. This accompanies the Diplôme D' Honeur from the International Academy of Ceramics, Cannes, received in 1955.
Otto and Vivika's work is collected world-wide and has been exhibited internationally at the Picasso Museum in Vallauris, France; San Francisco's De Young Museum; Los Angeles' County Art Museum and Craft Folk Art Museum; New York' American Craft Museum; Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian' and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Twentieth Century Fox commissioned them to create 751 pieces of pottery for the film, "The Egyptian."
Otto and his parents during the war years. |
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Heino Trucking Co. |
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Vintage photos from the Heino family photo album. |