Perry Banard likes the creative side of welding

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas

July 19, 2001 -- "Some neighbors asked me to do a little metal piece for them. I did that, then I made a few more and then neighbors started buying things, and I was about to finish the job I had. I just started doing this full time," said Perry Banard of Perry's Metal Art Company in Wimberley.

Before he opened his own shop, Banard worked as a carpenter, a welder and taught building trends in a San Antonio high school, he said.

He lives in quarters behind his shop on the outskirts of Wimberley, and the shop is filled with various pieces of metal sculpture he's created out of recycled metal.

"When I started doing this years ago, all I did was the Indian stuff, and it's not popular anymore.

"So, then I started doing crosses. Now you can get them from Mexico," said Banard.

"It's fun making this stuff, but it's boring making lamps already...the same thing over and over," he said.

The tools he uses include a torch, a grinder and a grease pencil or soapstone used to sketch on the metal.

One of his favorite things to make is masks.

"I saw another guy doing similiar things at a show I was doing and just started doing them. What it is is that you'll see something and elaborate on it or make it better...or make it worse ...." said Banard.

"What'll happen is sometimes, I'm in a bad mood and I'll try and draw something and just nothing will work, you know.

"Then, I'll sell several pieces and then it's, 'Oh boy,' and I'll go down (to the workshop) and make something."

Banard moved to the Wimberley area about six years ago from San Antonio, after participating in the monthly arts and crafts shows in Wimberley.

"I was doing the monthly show in Wimberley and I was driving from San Antonio.

Both of my daughters were going to U.T., so it's that much closer to Austin, and because of the artists in the area," he said.

On occasion, various people ask for custom work, but Banard says it makes up a smaller part of his work.

"Most custom work is for ranchers. This is a real ranching area around here. That's what I get the most requests for...ranch gates.

"Custom work doesn't usually work because people don't have an idea, sometimes. I say, 'Draw me a picture.' If they can't do that, I have trouble wondering what in the world they're talking about," said Banard.

"I went down, last night, and worked until 8 at night finishing that big lamp. I just felt creative. That's what happens...the material you use...a lot of times...controls what you're going to do.

"It's like I look down and say, 'I could put a face on that piece,' or I just take a grease pencil or soapstone and draw it on. If I don't like it, I just rub it off and change it," he said.

While Banard had no formal art training, he is able to look at a picture or piece and decide what would make it more interesting to him and how he can accomplish that goal. Some of his works have been patterned after posters or other visual arts he comes across.

"It's a little bit of a shock that I can make something people are nice enough to give me $90 for...Some of it is like, 'Man, I don't know if I like this or not,' and somebody will rave over it or something," he said.

Like many artists who enjoy being able to do what they love, Banard says the 40 hour a week job is better, if you want to make plans for the future. If you don't mind living day to day doing what you love in an area you love to live in, the artist's life may be for you.

"One day you sell $450 worth and the next day, you don't have a customer. You just can't plan ahead," he said.