Texas Sculptor Recalls Decades-Long Journey to Success

Craig Campobella was so nervous, he never left his vehicle. Beside him in the passenger seat was an Indian head. When he pulled his car up to the local foundry, a man came out. Campobella leaned over and flung the passenger door open. He waited for the man to respond. The man studied the Indian bust only for a second and then looked at Campobella. “What you’re trying to tell me is that that’s an Indian.”
That was all Campobella needed to hear. He said thank you and drove off. Campobella, now a celebrated and award-winning sculptor, tells this story with a laugh, but he knows that this moment was arguably the most important in his artistic career.
He had never attended art school. He was never a master’s apprentice. He had simply shown a natural talent for sculpting. Before this humorous anecdote in the parking lot of the local foundry, he realized he might be able to do something in the way of artistic expression when his friend noticed a piece he’d made. Campobella had sculpted an Indian sitting on a rock, covered in a blanket, with his hair blowing in the wind. The piece was drying on his mantel when the friend offered him $50 for it. Fifty dollars in the 1980s was no cheap offer.