Fulfill Your Dreams With A New Career |
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Robert (Bob) Sanabria
Age: 65
Leesburg, Virginia
First career: Military officer
New careers: Sculpting, writing
Come to Robert Sanabria's studio on a knoll in the Leesburg, Virginia countryside, and you'll probably see him high up on a ladder, sculpting an abstract form from a towering piece of metal. He's likely working on a commission for one of his monumental outdoor sculptures. It will take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years to complete.
Sculpting came late to Sanabria; it's his second career, begun when he was 42 and recently retired from the Army (he was a highly-decorated lieutenant colonel). He used the GI Bill to get his Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Maryland. Now his works are in the permanent collections of museums, universities, and other public spaces, along with numerous corporate and private collections in the United States and Europe. His largest sculpture, commissioned by the City of Philadelphia and done in pre-cast concrete, weighs 6 tons.
Well-known in the greater Washington, D.C. area, Sanabria now mainly works in copper, bronze, and stainless steel. He commends the organization and discipline he learned in the Army as "musts" for a professional artist. Not all the military influence was good for his art, however. "You're better off not using and showing your emotions in the military," he says, "while in art it is the opposite. Art is about the opening up of your personal life." To reconnect with long-denied feelings, Sanabria years ago entered therapy. It opened the path to yet another career.
"I'm Mexican American," he says. "I grew up in an orphanage in California, and I resented it mightily. I didn't want anyone to know; it was a source of shame for me. I think I became an Army officer to overcome that. At the time I was growing up in California, Mexican Americans weren't looked at favorably. When someone said something nasty about Mexicans, I automatically identified."
Recently, when new information about his childhood surfaced, Sanabria decided to "lay my demons to rest" by penning his memoirs. He rewrote the book six times. "My understanding of technique is growing, just as it did in sculpture," he says. Currently the book is making the rounds of literary agents. Meanwhile, Sanabria has begun a novel.
Not that he is putting the sculpture aside. Currently he's making maquettes for three commissions that his agents have him considering. He's also exploring how to design sculpture using a 3-dimensional program on his computer. Meanwhile, the ever-adventurous Bob Sanabria has just designed his own Web page; look for it on AOL.
Words of Wisdom
If you plan to follow a career in art, Sanabria offers some suggestions. "Explore a variety of areas in the arts," he says. "Then, whatever you select, do it seriously. Join a gallery, so that you'll have a community of people for support and to explore problems. Go through an art league where your work is juried and where the jurors change. Rejection is good for the soul and for the work." When times of discouragement come--as they certainly will--Sanabria asks himself, "'Have I come all this way to stop now?' I walk away and come back with fresh eyes. Staying the course is all part of taking your art seriously."
Photo credits L-R: Cristin Bradley, Catherine Reeve, Cynthia Smalley
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