Ronald A. Wickersham was born in 1954 in San Francisco, California. Ronald is an outsider or self-taught artist. He studied for two years under Robert Stranich, a wonderful impressionist painter and sculptor. It was Mr. Stranich who entered one of Ronald’s works in a competition at the historic Central Los Angeles City Library, and it was there that he won his one and only award. He never showed up for the awards ceremony; he was too busy figuring out how to move a 700-pound sculpture, hanging from the rafters in his parent’s home, before they returned from vacation. Shortly after that, he bought a trailer and moved to the desert.
Setting up shop in Fontana, Ronald took a job in construction. He’ll tell you it was just what he needed at the time. Everyday was like painting or sculpting, finding ways to solve problems, being creative, and creating new problems to solve. The whole physicality of the work, the pressures and the immediate results, challenged him. He continued to pursue his art, building sculptures from various materials including concrete and steel - tall, elongated figures reminisant of Jauqometi’s, “The Gathering.”
Moving to Oceanside in 1980, Ronald continued to use his building skills, working on many of the finest homes on the Southern California coast. During this period of his life, he met a homeowner at a local art festival who purchased nearly all of his work. He also provided Ronald with showing space in his business. As Ronald’s following grew, he opened his own studio-gallery in the coastal town of Encinitas. This is where he creates and sells his work. Most evenings you can walk through the gallery and find the artist working in his studio or entertaining on the patio or perhaps, creating another problem to solve.
