Master wood sculptor works to capture essence of Grand Canyon in art

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. - There are numerous reasons to visit the Grand Canyon. For many it is to capture the overwhelming beauty and awe-inspiring majesty of the Canyon. People have different ways of doing this. Some try through the lens of a camera, others the stroke of a paint brush. Some hike into the depths of the Canyon.

Michael Bauermeister is hoping to capture a part of the Canyon with a piece of wood and his gouge (a chisel for cutting grooves).

Bauermeister, a master carpenter and wood sculptor, is the Artist in Residence for the South Rim and is no stranger to the Grand Canyon. In 2012 he took a Colorado River rafting trip through the Canyon. After returning home, Bauermeister decided to express some of his experiences in his work.

"I tried to capture the feel of the place in some of my wood carvings," Bauermeister said. "It just wasn't working to my satisfaction, so I decided I had to come back. When I found out about the Artist in Residence program it seemed perfect for that."

As an Artist in Residence, Bauermeister stays at the Verkamp's apartment overlooking the South Rim.

"I can carve, paint, and look out the window and see the subject matter right there," Bauermeister said. "It's such a great opportunity. The raft trip was 26 days, but I wasn't able to work while I was on the river. To be able to spend all this time here working and looking and walking has been really great."

Bauermeister will spend three weeks at the Canyon, leaving in mid-November. During his time there, Bauermeister will work on several projects.

"My work is usually split into two areas, I do sculptural work and I carve wood panels that are painted and hung on the wall. I'm really going to focus on that for this residency," Bauermeister said.

Many of Bauermeister's works are representational. The sculptures and wall hangings are interpretations of the world around him. Bauermeister spends many hours carving and gouging in order to create a variety in the roughness, curves and lines in each piece of wood.

"I'm trying to emulate the materials, colors, and textures that I see here at the Canyon," Bauermeister said. "When I look at the Canyon I see a whole lot of red and green - very pale and particular reds and green, and a little bit of yellow. I love that really soft green that you see down in the lower parts of the Canyon."

The Canyon is new subject matter to Bauermeister, who is hoping to convey the vast scale and depths that he has seen while visiting. Many of Bauermeister's hangings are inspired by landscapes. One wall hanging he brought was a result of his first experience at the Canyon. This hanging is currently on display at Grand Canyon Park Headquarters.

"Some are like landscapes, some are a texture that I see in an area," Bauermeister said.

He wants to pick up on these traits during his time at the Canyon.

"I brought some nine by nine squares I'm using for samples but I also brought some great big panels," Bauermeister said. "I hope that by the end of the three weeks I'll have at least started on those big panels. I really hope to be able to work out the technique so I'm confident enough to try it on some of the big ones. It takes a long time but if I can get it started I can finish them when I get back to my studio."

Bauermeister has a small display of his pieces in his shop in Augusta, Missouri, where he lives with his wife, Gloria. He sells his work directly at art shows and in galleries across the country. Some of his jobs come from commission work he receives from designers.

Many of Bauermeister's pieces find homes in hospitals, hotels and other public buildings.

Each sculpture and wall hanging is shaped using different sized gouges to carve out the wood. By sanding and adding color and lacquer, Bauermeister creates the natural texture he is hoping to achieve. Bauermeister said he uses elements from nature in deciding what the final wall hanging will resemble.

"I've used this technique at home, by picking up leaves in a forest, or pebbles on a beach, or (watching) waves on a river," he said. "Now I'm trying to translate those techniques into rocks, sagebrush, and everything else that I see around."

The sculptures Bauermeister carves are usually something he already has in mind. They are then transcribed into many drawings. After he has sketched a design, he glues boards together to make the bigger pieces of his work into a single piece of wood. The overall shape is established using power tools and a lathe before he begins carving the piece by using gouges. Once he is finished with the gouging, Bauermeister paints, sands, stains and applies several coats of lacquer.

Bauermeister also makes his own paint, combining wood lacquer with pigment to make the colors he desires. He achieves a variegated look by layering colors and sanding them to the desired effect.

Most of the wood Bauermeister uses is purchased locally at home. He said he likes to use wood purchased from an urban logger in St. Louis. The logs are milled from different park departments and landscapers.

Bauermeister primarily uses Linden and Butternut wood for the wall hangings. These woods are perfect for work that involves many hours using a gouge.

Work on the wall hangings takes a long time, with the bigger panels taking as long as several months to complete. Bauermeister said he normally works on several pieces at once.

When he is not working at his studio, Bauermeister can be found riding his bike on some of the trail systems in Missouri or playing musical instruments with his wife. The couple has two grown sons who reside in Washington and Tennessee.

As for the future, Bauermeister said he would like to create a dialogue addressing environmental issues that will tie in with his work.

"So far most of my work is about natural beauty," Bauermeister said. "I don't want to take away from that but I want to somehow convey that this is a limited resource that we have to take care of."

Bauermeister said he has seen imagery and natural destruction that could be helpful in finding direction in this new endeavor.

"When I was flooded out in the Missouri River flood of 1993, I saw a lot of destruction that had a kind of beautiful side to it. Patterns in the mud and the miles of logs and all the natural destruction that was there had a beautiful edge if you looked at it just the right way."

More information about Michael Bauermeister can be found at his website, www.michaelbauermeister.com.