Ancestral Inspiration | Her Art & Business: Lessons in Empowerment from my Grandma
Good afternoon friends.
This post is inspired by @osm0sis's posts sharing her great grandfather's works of art. She encouraged me to share some art of my (Wren's) grandmother and talk a bit about her life and empowering journey!
I'll start off by saying we're home!
And it feels good to be here. A little stressful and hectic arriving home to water leaking on the bed from the cupola or an overwhelming amount of greens in the high tunnel (I know, homesteading problems, right?!) or the strong smell of urea from the cat litterbox, but we're home! and the signs of spring are everywhere. More on that to come; I want to share all of the fresh shoots and unfurling leaves on the homestead as April approaches in another post.
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Rotey & her mother, Neva (Don't they kind of look like dolls?! lol!)
When I saw @osm0sis's posts, I thought of the sketches of my grandmother my Aunt had given to me sometime ago. Some of you will remember my grandmother from a post a did about a month ago detailing her love of roses and how that influenced my life (hint: I planted a bunch of roses on the homestead!). I love gathering things from family members to incorporate into my life; it's my way of embedding their memory and promoting their legacy that they can live on through.
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Grandma Rotey in her youth
My grandma Rotey also owned a Fashionable Clothing Boutique
And this is the story that I'll briefly go into as I share a short account of her youth up until when she started sketching, creating ads, and hustling in the clothing business.
Rotey’s Boutique
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Sketch done by Rotey for her shop, Rotey’s Boutique
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Image of Rotey’s ad in the newspaper; all self-drawn
Early Life
Synchronistically enough, my grandmother's early life started in Kansas and she often traveled down to the Ozarks, a unique mountain range in Missouri/Arkansas (where I now reside), to hang out with her friends at summer camp and go on travels.
![555918BE-7721-4A9F-9460-EC28409D4224.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQeCB3Efb4HM3FW94wa4Yuvsgh3wB8PyELRHT4ViJdjZZ/555918BE-7721-4A9F-9460-EC28409D4224.jpeg)
Rotey with friends in the Ozarks
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Growing up in Kansas
It's interesting to think of her in these waterways and visiting towns near me. Looking through her photos, we also get a feel for life growing up in Kansas. Perhaps boring and something she wanted to get away from, but full of a mix of characters right before the war. We see "farmboys turned soldiers" and know that this had an effect on her.
![EE0DB36F-292C-4649-87CA-9B18123BBEBC.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmfJQ4AFWiRbqgpSG1jgujLLJecPWfrU6bdxgd2KXj7bsa/EE0DB36F-292C-4649-87CA-9B18123BBEBC.jpeg)
She became a pinup.
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This continued into her later years, the drive for beauty & relishing in a fantastic & glamorous lifestyle.
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And soon she could sell the fashion to others
Opening Rotey’s Boutique
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Location
She opened Rotey's Boutique just outside of Los Angeles, California in a town called Pasadena.
It has since grown a lot, but I've heard when she first moved there is was a place for a lot of bohemian souls to gather. Having lived at her house before she died while studying massage therapy, I got an intimate look at the town as it now stands and got to walk the streets, smell the flowers and live near the architecture that shaped so much of my grandmother's later years.
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Photo of Rotey in Newspaper
Rotey lived out loud and for that she is an example of us all to believe in ourselves and step out to dare to live our dreams.
In a time when not many women started their own businesses, yet alone succeeded greatly as she ultimately did, she made all of her own images for the newspaper and advertising. She also hand-crafted images around her shop on tags, gift certificates and more.
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Gift Certificate
A look behind the scenes.
So what was it like for a woman in the 70s, 80s and 90s to create her own business in an up and coming area?
I have heard some stories through the family grapevine, but a lot remains unknown. What I do have is a large box of newspaper clippings, sketches and saved clips from my Aunt. As I pour through it, I can only imagine...
It appears she copied much of the images into sketches or at least took inspiration and practiced drawing the images she liked. She practiced sketching models, jewelry and clothing to later incorporate it into her advertising and logos.
![E183C93E-495A-46A6-91F9-607728827366.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmaa7eGjPxgs1At2CBXAwuWqdRdZEqxVD5KPpYJXt1sV6c/E183C93E-495A-46A6-91F9-607728827366.jpeg)
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Her sketches are immaculate and she collected images of watches, jewelry, and clothing that she liked.
![49D4A846-6355-48C3-BB33-3A9356BAE097.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVkTknep7VonzzE4Jmih3UjpJdwMkH5xaU7GWXLYtbUNd/49D4A846-6355-48C3-BB33-3A9356BAE097.jpeg)
Her models were a true pleasure to see:
![E06B6388-D9CD-400F-9B24-BD368930F45F.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmWcq5kCo1eXR3AuAdSzeq74eKF7BTsWK48pudsAeXrPwf/E06B6388-D9CD-400F-9B24-BD368930F45F.jpeg)
The Running Set
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Smug
When I was growing up, she’d write me Christmas cards with similar images found in her advertisements and it makes me smile to this day.
![67AC1F45-598C-4CED-9C92-BF797AA4E774.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmeKg68Xezyj2i55S2FFjd9Ys7Wv7VoTYEi2X7T7wD6V1z/67AC1F45-598C-4CED-9C92-BF797AA4E774.jpeg)
Detail
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Overview
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She was featured in the newspaper often
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![0C05190D-BE8F-4AB3-9FE3-CEBE35781480.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmXLMcyrxTLGXxTGz2FuDMBajtDQvH6z6fdCdkohAoqHmk/0C05190D-BE8F-4AB3-9FE3-CEBE35781480.jpeg)
It was super fun to look through the clippings saved by my Aunt while I was at my parents’ house this last week.
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Pretty incredible that she drew all of her ads!!
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Sale
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Wren! This post is on my top 5 list of favourites this month 😊.
What a beautiful tribute to such a talented (and gorgeous!! sheesh) woman. I love that this is forever on the blockchain now.
awwww you're so sweet! thanks so much for the inspiration!!!! and feedback! it's a joy to look into my family history and my grandma's stories are some of my favorite. i draw so much inspiration from her spirit and yes am so happy to put some of these photos on the blockchain. it's a great way to store family photos lol <3
What a most awesome post!
Thank you so much for being here and producing such excellent content, you guys are a credit to the community!
aw thank you so much! that means a lot coming from you! i so look up to and adore both you and @osm0sis!! <3 (group hug) lol!
Those are the best ones for sure! Thank you, and well done for yet another @curie vote!
This is so cool. Your grandmother was gorgeous. She'd have an awesome Instagram account 😎 I also live to incorporate my grandparents amd parents stuff into our home. I take it over every other modern home accessories.
aw thanks! lol to the great insta account!! haha too true!!
exactly, we share that sentiment! give me things with character & story any day!
This post is amazing!! Your grandmother was such a lovely and inspirational woman, these photos are incredible (so awesome that you have all of these!). A beautiful post written by a lovely soul.
aw thank you so much!! <3 you're so sweet. definitely great to celebrate and remember her. she's such an inspiration to me still!
Wonderful tribute to your Grandmother Rotey! I'm sure she is smiling, loving that you find her a creative soul, ahead of her time. You're so correct, she never used the word can't!
:) i hope she is smiling about this. i loved looking through her old memories in the ozarks and she is ever inspiring... loved your post today too! heading over to comment (i read it earlier and was amazed at what you dug up!)
Epic!
My aunt is a bit like that. Now at 85 she is still making elaborate birthday cards and stuff. She is a hat maker by trade, singing in a choir, even did a course to become a choir leader.
Now take some of your granny´s glamour and you guys will become the Brangelina of Homesteading! 😘
wow! cool that you have a family member that's just rocking it! in this way :D hahaha you're too funny, the Brangelina of homesteading... watch out #ecotrain ;) ;) !!
So beautiful, and so lovely that you're honoring her and keeping her memory alive! Ladies of Steemit - ALSO very cool!!
oh good to see you here! yes! it's a great curation creation!! <3 <3
Your grandmother had what we called moxie. Bright, artistic, a businesswoman with a forceful character. She wouldn't have been as successful without it. She would have to be strong because in her days business was difficult for women. Thanks for sharing her story.
you're so apt in your description! sounds like you knew her ;) exactly! thanks so much for reading and leaving such a stellar comment <3
It's so nice you take so much inspiration from you grandmother. Man, she was both incredibly beautiful and talented.
thanks so much. yeah she was a true beauty and i'm thankful to have some of those genes ;) and also the talents that were passed to me and lived experience!
This is an incredible post about an incredible woman! I love reading about her and her life. I loved the first post about her roses also. The best part is the photos of her and all her sketches. Those are amazing! My favorite was the first one of her as a child.
Will be looking for more! Resteeming so my sister can see this. She will love it too!
wow thank you so much for your enthusiasm and kindness!! yes her childhood photos are amazing; many very cool ones i could've shared. thanks for your interest! & resteem!!