GLOUCESTER -- When asked how he got started as an artist, Pablo Eduardo says he "just walked into it."

Eduardo says he loved drawing, sculpture, and ceramics but was scorned -- even by some of his college professors -- for his love of classical art. Ironically, that only made him more curious about it. Now, his works can be found in South America and across the U.S., enhancing the artistic and cultural identities of both secular and faith-based communities.

Born in La Paz, Bolivia, Eduardo grew up in a culture that "still preserved a pretty Baroque world, both visually and theologically." When he was 12, his father was exiled from Bolivia, and his family moved to Washington, D.C., where Eduardo's father ran a Spanish language newspaper with the then-Father Seán P. O'Malley. The family was eventually able to return to Bolivia, but Eduardo and his siblings went back to the U.S. for college.

He studied at several different schools, earning his bachelor's degree from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. After college, he spent five years in Bolivia, where he completed projects for the state and the local church. He then returned to the U.S.

He established an LLC called Opus Lazari, Latin for "The Work of Lazarus." From there, Eduardo said, "we were reborn."

He and his assistants currently work out of studio space constructed in his home in Gloucester.

In a March 4 interview, he compared the process of learning to sculpt with learning to play a musical instrument: after thousands of hours of practicing how to do it correctly, the artist can begin to interpret, "let go of all that stuff and put your spirit into it."

Over the years, Eduardo has completed numerous public art installments as well as private commissions. Boston College has been a frequent patron of his work. He has also created projects for several churches in the archdiocese: he built the tabernacle at St. Mary of the Annunciation Church in Danvers, and he sculpted St. Bonaventure for the church of that name in Plymouth. His work can also be found at Catholic institutions in other states, including a monument to St. Francis Regis at Regis Jesuit School in Denver, Colorado, and bronze panels for Christ Cathedral in Orange County, California.

As a lifelong Catholic, Eduardo loves the concept of the communion of saints. He said he often prays for the intercession to the ones he has sculpted, feeling that he has come to know them.

When he is tasked with depicting a saint, he begins by researching and reading about them.

Eduardo said that part of his job "is to investigate ideas." He said this helps to reinforce his faith, "but not just blindly."

"I feel I've always been invited to it on an intellectual level, too," he said.

When Eduardo is asked to depict a scene from the Bible, he thinks deeply about the event's significance and symbolism. He has come to see the Stations of the Cross, for example, as archetypes for universal human experiences like betrayal and failure.

He starts new projects by making small models, or maquettes, which he may later sell or give away as gifts. Like drafts of a piece of writing, these models undergo editing and revisions in each iteration.

"You develop your ideas like an outline in a book or a story," Eduardo said.

Though the initial models may not convey its exact look, he believes the final product must be beautiful.

"If it's not beautiful, you can't really pray (with it), because it's not easy to look at. It doesn't have to be realistic, it just has to portray some peace," he said.

Though not all of Eduardo's works have religious subjects, he has been dismissed by many in the art community as merely a "religious sculptor."

"They don't take me seriously intellectually or artistically," he said.

But, he continued, part of his faith is "believing that you are doing something you're supposed to do."

"If I were not lucky to have the patronage of the Church, it would be very hard, because a lot of people do think that being too Catholic is not a sellable thing," he said.

Fortunately for him, he has met many people who want the kind of art style and subjects he specializes in.

"They want a saint in their church that is not just catalog-ordered, but is made by the contributions of their community," Eduardo said.

He has also completed commissions of secular subjects, including statues of scientists, politicians, historical figures, and public servants. Notably, he was chosen through a design competition to build the Boston Marathon Marker Memorial honoring the victims of the 2013 bombing, a project that involved working not only with the city but also with the victims' families.

His current projects include statues of St. Teresa of Avila for Boston College; Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., a hero of D-Day, for Sainte-Mere-Eglise in France; William B. Gould, a former slave and Civil War veteran who lived in Dedham; and a statue of Christ based on the dimensions of the Shroud of Turin.

Eduardo said he would love to teach at the college level at some point. In the meantime, he runs a sort of apprenticeship from his studios, teaching his assistants the craft and the business side of his work. His only plan regarding retirement is to eventually switch to painting, which would be less physically demanding than sculpting.

Eduardo said he sometimes thinks talent is "a combination of intelligence and sensitivity."

"I always feel I've been gifted that, so I try to honor that," he said.

He explained that his faith moves him to always give thanks for what he is able to do.

"It's nice to be able to do what you love every day, and be hired to do it, and have the ability to do it well," he said.

Information about Pablo Eduardo can be found at his website, pabloeduardosculpture.com.