About the Artist Ron Whitacre

Ron Whitacre began his career in art using a variety of media. He studied painting and commercial art at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio before moving to Southern California in the mid 1960’s. Most of his early work was two dimensional, but he always had an underlying sense that the paper or canvas was “just not deep enough.” His transition to sculpture came after years of fascination with three dimensions and a desire to create “real” objects.

His works, mainly depicting the human figure or animals in motion, are noted for their balance, power, grace, and sensitivity. The sculptural works he created in the last 15 years of his life were often inspired by the grace and movement of dancers, acrobats, musicians, and goddesses. Many of his commissioned sculptures over the years have been major architectural works for synagogues, churches, hospitals, banks and other public settings. These include two of his largest works, a twenty-six-foot wide high relief steel composition titled “Exodus” and a steel and brass “Tree of Life” wall sculpture measuring forty-three feet across. One of his best-known pieces, a fourteen-foot sculpture titled “Harmony,” has arched over the entrance to the Laguna Beach Art A-Fair Festival since 1998.

Whitacre developed his individual method of creating sculpture in welded steel because he wanted to remain intimately involved from start to finish. He began his creation process with a series of sketches, usually done on tracing paper so changes could easily be made by overlaying a series of evolving sketches. After the sketches developed into an image he could visualize in three dimensions, the real work began.

First, he would construct a basic “stick figure or figures” by bending and welding together a few steel rods about the thickness of a wire coat-hanger. Line after line was drawn with steel rods to gradually delineate the shapes and flow of the piece. Slowly the subject appeared as Whitacre filled in some spaces between the rods, leaving other areas selectively open. Whitacre's sculptures are often elongated and exaggerated to emphasize grace and flowing movement and the open areas serve to “lighten” the sculpture.

When the work reached the stage that reflected the artist’s original vision, the surface of the sculpture was melted and textured using the welding torch. Final finishing was done first by buffing with an electric wire brush and then by adding either a sprayed coat of clear enamel or developing a patina. In his later years, Whitacre sometimes added touches of bright painted color.

Whitacre lived and worked for much of his life in Laguna Beach, California. He excelled at producing individualized works for homes and commercial settings. A Ron Whitacre sculpture is a unique work of art valued by collectors as “one of a kind.”

About the Artist Ron Whitacre

Artist Working!