D • R • FICKAS is a local Santa Paula metal sculptor. He grew up in the Ventura/Oxnard area and graduated from Rio Mesa High School in 1970. He had two previous careers, the first of them being a construction electrician. After 13 years of working in Ventura County and sustaining long-term debilitating injuries, he was forced to find a new path.
After doing vocational rehabilitation as a graphic artist, he attempted to pursue a career in that field. In 1996, he graduated from Ventura College with an Associate degree in commercial art. Attempts to start a graphic design business were unfruitful. A trainee position as a video transfer technician for Nationwide Photo Lab eventually morphed into his second career, that as an owner and operator of his own video transfer business.
That was the very best job that he ever had. That career lasted 21 years and came to an end in 2020 when COVID-19 shut the world down and businesses suffered. Seeing the writing on the wall, he decided to close the business and retire. Adapting to retirement after working full-time most of his entire life was very challenging for him.
Eventually, he started fabricating mostly abstract and occasionally familiar objects using scrap steel that
he often found while hiking, walking along roadsides and while picking up litter as a volunteer. He coined
the term “upcycling” to describe the process of turning rusty junk, scrap and cast off objects to create
often whimsical and sometimes recognizable objects.
One of his favorite places to be is when he is “In the zone” using either an Oxy/Acetylene torch operating
at 5700 degrees or a Flux Core Arc Welder to fuse the steel pieces together. The results are what you see
here and in the The Work Gallery.
3rd place award from the Santa Paula Society of the Arts
87th annual Art and Photography Exhibit
April 21- May 14, 2026