Woburn artist making dreams come true for hockey players across the country
BOSTON – Inside a red house in Woburn is where hockey artistry happens.
Ron Slater is the man behind Slater Lettering and Graphics.
"It's kind of like a lifelong passion. As a child, I was always drawing and into art," Slater said.
Slater is known as the mask man. He creates the art on the masks of hockey goalies. He starts with a blank canvas and a good ear.
"'I play on such and such a team.' 'This is my school's logo.' 'How do I get it on this?' As you're telling me that, I'm trying to put placement in my mind of where it's going to fit," Slater said.
The Woburn artist has made creations for players from the Washington Capitals' Olaf Kolzig to the Bruins' Tuukka Rask, and many of the minors and prep goaltenders around the world. Slater said the job has a snowball effect.
"Do one for this kid in high school and then I did one for his cousin and his cousin went to college and I did his mask and then his goalie partner needs a paint job," Slater said. "I always say every one I do always turns into three more."
As the ideas flow and the mask starts to take shape, the finished product is always one that Slater never tires of.
"It's like Christmas morning. Sometimes, I do it for Christmas morning but some of them last week, a kid showed up to get his mask and he was just blown away with his vision that he had," Slater said.
Slater said he's fortunate. His dream was to play hockey and do art. He's in the game and he feels like he's doing both.
"It's a dream career. I'm not making a million dollars but I'm doing what I love and every day is a different challenge," Slater said.
Each mask takes about 40 hours of work, and Slater is often working on multiple projects at the same time.