Artist's 'LifeMaps' let people see themselves through the eyes of others
Ronnis Oher never intended to make that man cry.
She much prefers that people smile and laugh after seeing her work.
Still, her unique creations - LifeMaps, she calls them - have the power to produce a full range of emotions in a viewer.
"When someone receives one of my LifeMaps they get to see themselves through the eyes of people who love them," Oher said. "I think that's the greatest part of the gift, is letting people see themselves through the eyes of others."
Using marker, crayon and found objects such as photos and clip art, in her 18-year-old business, LifeMaps - The Story of a Lifetime, the Wheeling resident creates lighthearted drawings with collage elements of people's memories, passions, vocations, favorite activities and pastimes. Most are contained by the outline of a theme, such as the initial of a name, or "50" for a birthday, or even famous logos people identify with. Others take up the full surface of the piece.
In addition to LifeMaps for individuals, Oher will create them for companies, cities, couples, and for basically any event one could imagine. It's also perfect for the proverbial "someone who has everything."
The items within, drawn as if the piece were a geographical map, are culled through interviews of people close to the subject. Oher often speaks with a point person who has already gotten the juicy stories, highlights and memories from others close to the recipient. Recently, due to COVID-19, Oher has interviewed several people at once using the Zoom platform.
"I don't want to talk to the person who's going to receive it. I'm talking to the person who's giving it to them. Not that I think the person would hide things about themself, I think we don't really have a clear view of ourselves," she said.
One map, in fact, did make a 70-year-old recipient cry. Another, done for an 80-year-old woman whose lipstick prints were legend among family and friends, contained a set of bright red lip prints with the written telltale sign: "You've been Lois-ed."
"I try to get inside, find the little personality quirks and try to capture and celebrate what makes them unique," Oher said.
She may not have been born to be an artist - Oher first knew she wanted to be a schoolteacher at 3 years old - but she got here in a roundabout way. First drawing them in 1980, artistic maps seemed to wind their way into each step of her professional life. She even did a thesis on the use of maps and globes in elementary school.
A teacher for more than a decade including nine years at Jane Addams Elementary School in Palatine, her map bug continued when she expanded upon a science unit on mapping by creating one that incorporated all the students in her fifth-grade classroom.
She started to draw LifeMaps for friends, and when she shifted into corporate training at a Chicago bank she created them for people there.
"I always say it's like a business that I never intended to be a business," said Ronnis, whose name came as the result of doodles by her father, Harry. He and his wife, Bea, liked names starting in "R," but sought something other than the usual Rebeccas and Renees.
After her consulting business ended, in 2002 she took up LifeMaps full time. She may be contacted through her website, www.lifemaps.biz, or at www.facebook.com/storyofalifetime.
"I do all right, but what I say is I would do them no matter what. It's a passion, to tell someone's story," said Oher, who once did a map for actress June Lockhart ("Lassie," "Lost in Space," Petticoat Junction").
She also stocks more generic maps representing musicians such as the Beatles and Michael Jackson, and creates greeting cards for a variety of occasions that come in the form of a jigsaw puzzle. For her personal works Oher requires 4 to 6 weeks, and she also can do the framing.
She sees her works, which come in five different sizes from 8-by-10 to 18 inches by 24 inches, as treasured possessions and family keepsakes. It certainly was treasured by the man who cried tears of joy after seeing 70 years of memories artistically laid before him.
"We'll give him his life," Oher said, "and that's a really cool thing to do."