Published: August 31, 2006 10:51 am      

Sharing Shop Talk

Wimberley pair makes a good sculpting team

Gruene — The 3rd Annual Texas Metal Arts Festival Sept. 9-10 in downtown Gruene gives visitors a glimpse into the often surprising stories of the artists they meet. Take Eric Slocombe and Suzanne McBride, for example.

The two sculptors both have “second” lives that were far away from sculpting — McBride’s as a past engineer and Slocombe’s as a UPS delivery man and sculptor. Their unusual meeting has led to a flurry of joint art shows in Wimberley and around the area. But it’s the way they met that makes such a good story.

Of course, the festival also offers the public an opportunity to see and purchase the work of some of Texas' finest sculptors and jewelers. All 25 artists will attend, demonstrating their craft and answering questions.

The two “kindred spirits,” united in their love of sculpture and animals, were strangers until three years ago.

After 12 years of work in the software industry, including research in Artificial Intelligence while earning her Master's Degree at UT Austin, Suzanne had left her technical career to follow her own passion for animals and art. With her work on the John Denver Memorial Monument in Austin and a recent exhibition at a gallery in Santa Fe completed, the move from Dallas to Wimberley left Suzanne eager to connect with artists and sculpture shows in her new home town.

Her friends had one in particular they wanted her to meet — a UPS driver.

“Those who knew me would say ‘oh,you just have to meet Eric! He's a great sculptor, too. I'm sure you'll meet him sometime when he delivers a package to you,’” McBride said.

Suzanne asked every UPS driver she met for an entire year if he was Eric, wondering with each negative response if "the hunt for Eric" was a new Wimberley-artist initiation rite.

But one day, a surprised driver said "Yes, I'm Eric. Why?"

Their friendship began that day, and has grown throughout the past three years as they develop new art.

Since his childhood in rural Colorado, Slocombe has been an amateur naturalist and an avid maker of three-dimensional things. Though he studied sculpture in college, he stopped formal training in order to work to support his young and growing family.

Most people recognize Eric in the brown truck he's driven for UPS for 17 years, delivering packages and watching Wimberley and its families change and grow. Newcomers don't always know about the man who never gave up his passion for sculpture, who has over 50 bronze sculptures to his credit and an exhibition at the Southeastern Wildlife Art Exposition in South Carolina.

And, as a visitor will come to know, there are plenty of other stories to be shared.

For more information about the show, visit www.texasmetalarts.com or call 903-852-3311.