The Meyer Gallery a Fine Art Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Eric’s education as an artist is a rather unusual one. Much of his training
is the result of Mentor/Student tutoring in individual art forms. In some
cases, the relationship has been closer to the old Master/Apprentice
training model often associated with highly-focused, classic education. As
a result of this intense instruction in multiple disciplines, Eric mastered
drawing in graphite, charcoal, and pastels at an early age. By the time he
was 13, he was on his way to mastering watercolor, oil, acrylics and
gouache.

At 17, Eric was looking for a new medium. He had talked often about
sculpting, but it was not offered in a school setting he could afford. Eric
remembers: “I just got sick of throwing pots in a pottery class in High
School and asked my teacher if I could do a bust for my assignment instead
of a pot. He agreed. Thus began my sculpture career!” He went on to work
in a bronze foundry as an apprentice for a year, making the leap from his
initial and only ceramic bust, a WWII pilot, into bronze. Eric’s first
bronze, a half-life of a great religious leader, was selected for one of the
few prizes in an international art competition when he was 19.

Eric feels equally strong in all of the mediums of art. He has a deep love
for art, and great respect for the power it can wield. Eric’s great
pleasure is giving “life” and material substance to the great visions,
tender loves and gentle dreams, whether they are his own or others.

Eric is often asked if he has plans to go to a University for additional
training. “Well, I tried that for a while,” he responded. “I recognize that
this talent is a gift, and I’m very grateful for it. I believe that talents
can not be taught. Skills can be taught, but not talents. Talent can only
be refined through discipline, dedication, focus, hard work, and recognition
and rejection of mediocrity. Mediocrity seems to be the established
standard in many colleges, if you take time to look at the works of students
and tenured professors selected for display in the on-campus galleries.
This is why I have a hard time with going to school (college). Cartoonist
Al Cap creator of “Li’l Abner,” once said something that illustrates my
feelings perfectly for abstract art. He once said “Abstract art is a
product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly
bewildered.” I’m not impressed with what is being taught. Do not
misunderstand; I believe in education but not schooling. There is a
significant difference between the two. I believe that knowledge can be
taught, ignorance diminished, and skills learned, but talents cannot be
imparted. I believe that I’m responsible for my making a success with my
talents, not others. No school will make me a success. This is a business
as well as a passion to me. I am constantly looking for ways to better
myself and will for the rest of my life. Therefore I, and not others, will
select from the roster of those whose talents and skills are greater than
mine, and will seek to study under them.”