By Judy Salamacha

Ron Roundy is eclectic and wild, in-your-face and in-your-heart. And he is one of the best storytellers around because he lived them.
His business card pictures his sculpture titled, “Tower,” on one side. The other has his be-speckled right eye covered by his artist information “Ron Roundy, Fine Art, Sculpture, Drawing, Assemblage, Welding.” Classic Ron Roundy — Always leave ‘em with a zinger to remember you by!
Don’s miss meeting Ron Roundy at the opening reception of his one man art show from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26 at Edward Jones in Los Osos, 1236 Los Osos Valley Rd. Financial Advisor Deanna Richards is hosting hors d’oeuvres and beverages for the show that runs through May.
Ron will be there with Irma, his muse and bride of 20 years, to talk about “assemblage” of his art, life, coming of age somewhere between Utah and Los Osos, maybe Central Coast real estate or the national economy (well, you get the picture).
“I really like old rusty stuff,” said Roundy. “When you put dissimilar stuff together you can make all kinds of interesting things, but getting them to stay together is the magic.”
Roundy is a collector of stuff that he assembles into visions that mostly makes sense. An artist friend, George Jercich, gave him a green tank that became the base for his piece, “Red & Green Screw Machine.” It’s 7-feet tall. The tank and wheel flanged perfectly to fit together “…with a little welding all these parts fit — just like a puzzle with brilliance and light,” said Roundy.
He explained how Tower came about. “When I was building our log home in Utah, I’d take a break and explore the old mines and sawmills. It’s a collection of parts but I knew when collecting I wanted to build a tower so I would look for the specific pieces I needed.”
Roundy could have been the forerunner to TV’s Mike Rowe, the “Dirty Jobs” star. After a stint as a night bartender, he became the grunt for a crazy backhoe owner in Utah and before he settled into real estate, was sucking sewage into vacuum tanks.
A favorite job was shouldering the lead role for the crew that built the fueling system for the space shuttle while working for CPC-Cryolab. Ultimately, Roundy became a valued consultant and was sent to various sites, when a system didn’t work. He’d help get it operational, “usually by asking who was their old guy who knew how to merge systems — your basic old-school, low-tech guy — the one they forgot was already trained to get the job done.”
A table sculpture in the Edward Jones show comes from a doorplate off the space shuttle on top of tank floats as legs. The artist decided to build a cloud. He titled it Overhead, Underfoot, In Your Face.” He used 3/8-inch steel pipe, covered it in muslin material soaked in white glue. He discovered he had to wrap and dry it one section or one “puff” at a time.
“It was quite a process,” he said. And he’s been “puffing it up again” for his upcoming show.
Roundy has been an active community contributor and was named 1995 Realtor of the Year. He works for the same brokerage firm he started with, although the name has changed to Coastal Real Estate, 1398 Los Osos Valley Rd. He created and for years chaired the Junefest and Oktoberfest Fun Runs to benefit the Morro Bay High School Track ad Cross Country Teams. His two children were both outstanding distance runners at MBHS.
While scouring the area showing real estate or maybe running one of his marathons, he discovered an entire piano trashed and waiting for him to rescue it. Most of it went to the dumpster but he kept the keyboard and created a life statement wall hanging he calls “Off a Key.” Be sure and ask him why the title?
Like most families his grown-up kids have wandered to various places, so to keep in touch, he utilizes his constant creativity designing and taking artsy selfies on his phone. For the past year, every morning when he awakes he artfully plays with his image until he creates the mood-view of himself and sends it to the kids.
“They think it is fun and sometimes they tell me what’s going on in their lives,” he said. Find many of them on his Facebook page.
“Art is an attempt at making magic,” said the Renaissance man of Los Osos. “It’s the physical process about art that excites me. Especially when its playful art.”

Freelance writer, columnist and author, Judy Salamacha, can be reached at: [email protected] or call (805) 801-1422. Her Then & Now column is a regular feature of Tolosa Press.