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Arts & Culture: Ron Romanko and the Lady with the Halo

Sudbury’s Ron Romanko doesn’t seem himself as an artist, more of a curator, he says, for the true artist and his inspiration: Mother Nature

Mother Nature is the world's greatest artist. Just look at some of her creations: Niagara Falls. The Grand Canyon. The Rocky Mountains.

Her "landscape paintings" include a beautiful sunset, a forest after a snowfall and a rainbow.

Retired industrial arts (shop) teacher Ron Romanko, 86, is one of her many admirers and for several decades he has been collecting her bush sculptures.

"I have always had a fixation with wood," he said.

In 2009, Sudbury.com (then known as NorthernLife.ca) first introduced Romanko’s work. You can read that story here.

His love of wood and woodworking was tweaked when he saw the twisted shapes and patterns of tree stumps uncovered in the bush areas around the city.

Once cleaned and sanded, each stump reveals a unique sculpture crafted by Mother Nature, said Romanko.

"What interests me is the shapes left by Mother Nature in white pine stumps."

In 2008, Romanko found a treasure while picking blueberries —a white pine stump he believes is 300 years old and the remains of a onec-majestic tree.

"It was in bad shape. The diameter was between three and four feet. Anything that size would have come from a tree approximately 150 years old" before it was harvested, he said.

Romanko dug out the stump and lugged it home. 

"The wood was like new. It was well-preserved. It was not rotten, but I don’t know why. Mother Nature must have a secret potion."

He quotes another Sudburian of Ukrainian heritage like he is, Alex Trebek, who said, " If you can't be in awe of Mother Nature, there's something wrong with you."

"This is a remarkable piece of sculpture," Romanko said. "Mother Nature planted the seeds in the 1700s, then it grew for 150 years" and its stump was preserved for another 150 years.

He put his woodworking skills to work sanding it and using furniture polish to protect the wood. 

"I worked with it for more than a year, but it was worth it," he said.

He was struck by the sculpture's halo and thought it should be called "Ste. Anne of the Pines."

"Perhaps too corny," he said. So, he named it "Lady with the Halo."

Over the years, he has transformed more than 60 stumps into beautiful sculptures. 

"I am not the artist, I am the curator,” said Romanko.

Ideally, he would like to display the wood sculpture somewhere for other people to enjoy. He also encourages others to forage for their own treasures in the bush.

His treasure hunting encouraged Romanko to learn more about natural history and the local history of the area. Both are subjects he finds fascinating.

Before the Sudbury area was supplanted by lumbering, farming and mining, it was covered in forests of white pine, hemlock and beech. Jesuit missionaries named their mission here Sainte-Anne des Pins.

The forest was plundered to help rebuild Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871.  A bench at the new Place des Arts on Larch Street downtown is believed to be made from Sudbury District white pine lumber salvaged from a Chicago building.

Later in the 1880s, Sudbury District's forests provided timber to build the railroad. Then lumber was used to fuel ore smelting. 

Sulphur dioxide emissions from smelting poisoned the soil, which eroded leaving exposed bedrock. Before the regreening program began in 1978, more than 202,630 acres were in a barren or semi-barren state.

More than 1.6 million white pine seedlings have been planted in Greater Sudbury as part of the regreening program.

Vicki Gilhula is a freelance writer. Arts & Culture is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.