ABOUT OTOART

 

The OtoArt project is a celebration of natural beauty and artistic inspiration drawn from human anatomy. Anaplastologists usually take painstaking care to conceal their work against human skin so it will go unnoticed. OtoArt gives us an opportunity to highlight the human ear as an artistic object for the public to enjoy!

 

OtoArt is a fundraising project of the Walter Spohn Trust, where imaginative artists transform ear forms into Visual Expressions of Hearing. These works of art are then auctioned off to benefit education and research in anaplastology. The project is the brainchild of four anaplastologists who spent a weekend together museum hopping in London.  As they viewed classic masterpieces on display for the public, they discussed the fact that their prosthetic creations are successful only if no one notices them. But, what if they wanted to celebrate the beauty of an eye, a nose, or an ear and share it with the public? That’s when they thought of OtoArt! They decided that participation would be open to everyone with a passion for ears and art. 

 

This is still the spirit of the OtoArt project. We welcome anaplastologists, medical practitioners, painters, sculptors, photographers, medial artists, and anyone else who is interested to buy an ear, transform it into a work of art, and donate it for auction in support of the WST.

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OTOART 2026

 

OtoArt is back! 

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An OtoArt exhibition and auction will take place at the 2026 IAA Annual Conference. Participants are invited to create a unique artwork, starting with a provided 3d file of an ear. Participants are tasked with transforming the ear into an artistic visualization. For example, two ears become a butterfly. 

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The final sculpture may be entirely 3d-printed, or 3d-printed and modified manually. 

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All artworks will be displayed at a gallery event at the 2026 IAA Annual Conference, as well as featured in a printed 2026 OtoArt Catalog.

 

Participants may submit applications beginning in August 2025. Selected proposals will be announced in November 2025 and final artworks will be due March 2026.

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​Sign up here to stay tuned for more information on this exciting project!

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PAST OTOART EVENTS

 

The inaugural OtoArt exhibit and auction was held in Sarasota, Florida at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel as part of the combined meeting of the 25th Annual International Anaplastology Association Conference with the 3rd International Bone-Conduction Hearing-Craniofacial Osseointegration Symposium in March, 2011. Twenty-one ears were designed and embellished by artists from the US, Canada, and Europe and auctioned off to an international audience. They now reside in homes, offices, and clinics around the globe!

A new phase of the OtoArt fundraising effort began in 2013 at the International Anaplastology Association’s Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.  Since 2013, each year an OtoArt ear is designed specifically for the annual IAA meeting by featured artists, celebrating the location and/or theme of the meeting. Each new ear is showcased at its respective meeting and auctioned to support the WST.  

 

OtoArt 2017 added a twist to its participation criteria, welcoming ear-centered compositions in all different forms and media: 3d, 2d, painting, drawing, sculpture, screen print, 3d-print, photograph, etc. (realistic or abstracted). This new aspect of the project allowed artists to submit exciting and diverse pieces. OtoArt 2017 was a great success! We were able to showcase work at the 2017 IAA Annual Conference in Minneapolis, as at a public exhibition at Squirrel Haus Arts in Minneapolis. OtoArt hosted an Online Auction allowing art collectors and supporters to bit on each piece, and all auction-raised funds went directly to the support of the Walter Spohn Trust!

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OtoArt Exhibitions and auctions were held in 2018 and 2019 as well; however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a reduction of in-person events, OtoArt events had been postponed.

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