Ogden » Mario Ramos is an out-of-work artist.
The unemployed part, he gets. The artist label -- he's not so sure.
The 41-year-old Mexican national transforms trash into tiny, intricate models. But he shies from the artist moniker and sees himself more as just a guy who likes to create things from refuse. It's an imaginative spark, he says, he's had since he was a boy.
"It's nothing, but I like it. When I'm done, I like it when people say, 'That looks good.' "
Ramos creates miniature houses with landscaped yards, motels and resorts, or whatever meets his fancy. The creations are detailed, down to telephones, patio furniture and TV antennae.
He finds his building materials alongside the road or in trash cans: discarded computer parts, sandpaper, wiring, and toothpicks are among his favorite materials. So is spaghetti -- but that he has to buy.
"I like to recycle," he says. "Everybody's garbage is not garbage for me. I pick it up and put it in my projects."
These days, it's tough to find the money to buy pasta or glue.
Ramos, a heavy-equipment operator, was laid off last fall. He and his wife, Patt, could no longer afford their apartment. Since then they have been bouncing from one small inn in this northern Utah community to the next.
Times are hard, concedes Patt, who works in housekeeping at an Ogden motel.
"Since last fall, things have been really tough," she says. "I hope it will get better. Maybe in the spring."
For Mario, it's difficult to work on his model projects now because he's worried about how the couple is going to get by.
"The economy is bad. I try to find a job. But nobody has a job," he says. "I will do anything. I just need to work."
Nonetheless, Patt urges him on.
"I've told him for years, his creations are special. I hope he will begin to sell them someday."
Thus far, Mario has only given them away. As a gift to the couple's former landlady, Mario recreated a house from a painting at the New Brigham Apartments, where they lived.
"He's an original," says Alice Gray, the apartment manager. "I'm just amazed at all the details. You see something new every time you look at it."
Ramos also made a tiny replica of the Western Colony Inn, where he and Patt now live.
Motel owner Shahram Soltani points out how Mario's model is identical to the real thing, right down to the dumpster and "vacancy" sign.
"Everything is perfect," Soltani said. "Mario is very good."
One day, Mario would like to build a replica of downtown Ogden, complete with its historic buildings and avenues.
"I would like to go over there and start measuring things," he says. "But I'm afraid I would get arrested."
Maybe someone would hire him to make such a model, Patt muses.
"That would be nice," she says.
Somehow, the couple stays hopeful.
For Patt's birthday, Mario built her a house with a swimming pool. The design came out of his imagination, he says. It's their dream home -- even though the vision, at this point, seems distant.
"I wanted to do something special for her birthday," Mario says. "And she really likes swimming pools."
