A unique-to-Ada art work is now available as a copy, thanks to the wood crafting of Dr. Les Thede.

“Sunburst over Northern,” a wooden sculpture, was originally dedicated on March 22, 2019, in the atrium of the ONU Dicke College of Business Administration.

He created the wooden sculpture as a memorial to his wife, Diane. She retired as an administrative assistant at ONU after working there 26 years. She was a member of the ONU Women’s Book Club and Bridge Club. She died May 1, 2018.

The retired ONU professor has created smaller versions of the art work, which are now available at Gallery for the Arts, 115 S. Main St., Ada.

The smaller versions are created from walnut, cherry and maple hardwoods from Ohio and are available at $45 each. These pieces measures 18 ¾ by 13 ¾ inches. A larger version, approximately 24 by 18 inches, is available from Thede.

Dr. Thede is a retired ONU electrical engineering professor. In 2000 he began creating furniture. His company is EverLasting Furniture (ELF).

He first became interested in woodworking in high school when he took an industrial arts class, but had to put that aside for several years while he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Iowa and the doctorate from the University of Toledo.

He joined the ONU faculty in 1984 and taught here for 23 years.