(Ronn & Ron, Arizona 2021)
Ronn was born into a family of Rons.
It's a family joke that Ronn’s mother, Lenore - Lee to her friends - must have really liked the name. Not only is she credited with naming her younger brother, Ron, she even married a Ron.
Ronn T. Mattia was born Ronald T. Mattia, Jr. it really wasn't much of an issue growing up. Family nicknames and affectionate epithets distinguished the Rons from one another.
When Ronn found himself drawn to the art world, a conflict developed: Ron, Sr is also an artist. Preferring not to be known as Jr, and wanting to distinguish himself from his father as an artist, Ron became Ronn.
Ronn's success in the art world during the '90s and early to mid 2000s made the untraditional spelling a necessity in order to differentiate his work from Ron Sr’s. However, as life happened and Ronn took a hiatus from sculpting, Ronn didn’t pay as much mind to the spelling and let the second “n” slide.
Now, with the renewal of his art career, Ron returns once again to Ronn as not to lose the connection to his prior work.
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