Michael Bauermeister
biography |
portfolio | artists listing
b. 1957, Indianapolis, Indiana
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
The Mason Collection
Mesa Museum of Contemporary Art, Mesa, AZ
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
University of Michigan Museum, Ann Arbor, MI
The Wornick Collection
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2009 Los Angeles Art Show, represented by del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008 A Perfect Marriage: Wood & Color, CWA Exhibit, SOFA, Chicago, IL
Turned & Sculptured Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition, New York, NY
Selected Works, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Collectors of Wood Art Forum, Scottsdale, AZ
2007-08 Shy Boy, She Devil and Isis: The Art of Conceptual Craft, Selections from the Wornick
Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
1998-08 Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition, Chicago, IL
2007 Silent Conversations, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Nights In Rodanthe, Work Included In Warner Brothers Film
2006 Vortex 2006, Solo Show, Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2000-06 Wood Invitational, American Art Co. , Tacoma, WA
2005 Wood Vessels and Sculpture, Solo Exhibition, LUX Center for the Arts, Folsom Gallery,
Lincoln, NE
Solo Exhibition, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
2004 Whole Grain Sculptural Wood 2004, SOFA Exposition, Chicago, IL
Nature Transformed: Wood Art from the Bohlen Collection, University of Michigan
Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
Tree of Life, WoodTurning Center, Philadelphia, PA
Wood-O-Rama, Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY
2003 A Tribute to Rude Osolnik: An Exhibition of Contemporary Turned Wood, Kentucky
Museum of Arts + Design, Louisville, KY
One Step Back, Two Steps Forward, Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
The Nature of Craft, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Planting, Plotting and Pruning, Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
Craft Forms 2003, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
2002 Blurring the Line: Where Vessel and Sculpture Meet, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Materials Hard and Soft, Center for the Visual Arts, Denton, TX
Best of Wood Award, American Craft Exposition, Evanston, IL
Craft USA, Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, CT
A Modern Bestiary, Wustum Museum, Racine, WI
1998-02 Turned Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2001 Nuances d’Ete, Carlin Gallery, Paris, France
2001 New Talent in Crafts, Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI
Made in Missouri, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
2000 Defining Vessels, Chico Art Center, Chico, CA
Hot Tea! 2000, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Studio Wood, The New Frontier, Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1999 Wood and Form, Solo Exhibition, Iowa Artisan's Gallery, Iowa City, IA
Stone Series, Solo Exhibition, Sloan-Jordan Gallery, Austin, TX
Two-person Exhibit, Buddy Holly Center, Lubbock, TX
Spiva Craft Exhibit, Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin, MO
Solo Exhibition, Camden Fine Art Center, Camden, SC
1998 Solo Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
Collectors of Wood Art Forum, San Francisco, CA
1997 Michael Bauermeister: Tall Vessel Series, Grovewood Gallery, Asheville, NC
1996 Jahresmesse Kunsthandwerk 96, Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
1995 Michael Bauermeister: Carved Bowl Series, Missiouri Bluestem Gallery, Salina, KS
1993 Cornucopia of Crafts, Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, MO
1991 Focus on Wood and Fiber, Art St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2007 The Artful Home, Toni Sikes, Lark Books
2005 "Celebrating Craft", The Reader, December, Omaha, NE
2004 500 Wood Bowls, Leier, Peters and Wallace, Lark Books, Sterling Publications,
Asheville, NC
2003 Wood Art Today, Dona Meilach, Schiffer Publications, Westchester, PA
2002 Scratching the Surface, Michael Hosaluk, North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio
2001 Object Lessons: Original Art from Guild Artists, Guild Com, Guild Publications,
Madison, Wisconsin
1995 American Craft, June
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
While studying sculpture at the Kansas City Art Institute I worked in all kinds of media and materials but soon settled on wood as a favorite. I liked the natural beauty of it and the contemplative process of working it using traditional methods. I have since evolved into using some not-so-traditional methods but with some precautions it can still be an enjoyable process. By the time I graduated I was working in wood exclusively.
Moving from school into the real world I found it impossible to make a living as a sculptor. But I found that I could satisfy some of those same urges to build things in three-dimensional space by making furniture. And people would actually pay me to do it. So for about 15 years that's what I did, struggling to make ends meet while supporting my family.
While playing around in my studio with a technique I'd come up with to make a different kind of wooden bowl I stumbled onto the path that would lead me back to the more sculptural work I make today. For awhile I made vessels and furniture both but for the past 15 years all I've done is this very satisfying, creative work.
I make wooden vessels because I have to make something and I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't much matter what. These sculptural forms offer the viewer a place to start, the iconic and comfortable bowl and container, and from there I'm free to explore any idea or mood I can imagine. Since my background is a cabinetmaker I usually build a vessel up out of several pieces of wood which is then carved, turned and sometimes painted before being lacquered and polished. I like to work in a scale not usually associated with wood bowls, forcing the viewer to see them in a new light.
In my new wall pieces I approach the wood as a canvas. These undulating wood panels are carved, sometimes turned, and finished with layers of tinted lacquer which is partially sanded away before the piece gets a final stain and clear finish. The panel is not quite flat but usually has the flowing quality of draped fabric or the surface of the sea.
I think of them as picture planes and as wooden objects in their own right. I think of them as fields of color, sometimes inspired by the real fields around my studio, sometimes by other textures I see in nature such as the leafy canopies of trees and light reflecting off the surface
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
The Mason Collection
Mesa Museum of Contemporary Art, Mesa, AZ
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
University of Michigan Museum, Ann Arbor, MI
The Wornick Collection
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2009 Los Angeles Art Show, represented by del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008 A Perfect Marriage: Wood & Color, CWA Exhibit, SOFA, Chicago, IL
Turned & Sculptured Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition, New York, NY
Selected Works, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Collectors of Wood Art Forum, Scottsdale, AZ
2007-08 Shy Boy, She Devil and Isis: The Art of Conceptual Craft, Selections from the Wornick
Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
1998-08 Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition, Chicago, IL
2007 Silent Conversations, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Nights In Rodanthe, Work Included In Warner Brothers Film
2006 Vortex 2006, Solo Show, Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2000-06 Wood Invitational, American Art Co. , Tacoma, WA
2005 Wood Vessels and Sculpture, Solo Exhibition, LUX Center for the Arts, Folsom Gallery,
Lincoln, NE
Solo Exhibition, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
2004 Whole Grain Sculptural Wood 2004, SOFA Exposition, Chicago, IL
Nature Transformed: Wood Art from the Bohlen Collection, University of Michigan
Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
Tree of Life, WoodTurning Center, Philadelphia, PA
Wood-O-Rama, Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY
2003 A Tribute to Rude Osolnik: An Exhibition of Contemporary Turned Wood, Kentucky
Museum of Arts + Design, Louisville, KY
One Step Back, Two Steps Forward, Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
The Nature of Craft, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Planting, Plotting and Pruning, Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
Craft Forms 2003, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
2002 Blurring the Line: Where Vessel and Sculpture Meet, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Materials Hard and Soft, Center for the Visual Arts, Denton, TX
Best of Wood Award, American Craft Exposition, Evanston, IL
Craft USA, Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, CT
A Modern Bestiary, Wustum Museum, Racine, WI
1998-02 Turned Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2001 Nuances d’Ete, Carlin Gallery, Paris, France
2001 New Talent in Crafts, Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI
Made in Missouri, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
2000 Defining Vessels, Chico Art Center, Chico, CA
Hot Tea! 2000, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Studio Wood, The New Frontier, Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1999 Wood and Form, Solo Exhibition, Iowa Artisan's Gallery, Iowa City, IA
Stone Series, Solo Exhibition, Sloan-Jordan Gallery, Austin, TX
Two-person Exhibit, Buddy Holly Center, Lubbock, TX
Spiva Craft Exhibit, Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin, MO
Solo Exhibition, Camden Fine Art Center, Camden, SC
1998 Solo Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
Collectors of Wood Art Forum, San Francisco, CA
1997 Michael Bauermeister: Tall Vessel Series, Grovewood Gallery, Asheville, NC
1996 Jahresmesse Kunsthandwerk 96, Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
1995 Michael Bauermeister: Carved Bowl Series, Missiouri Bluestem Gallery, Salina, KS
1993 Cornucopia of Crafts, Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, MO
1991 Focus on Wood and Fiber, Art St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2007 The Artful Home, Toni Sikes, Lark Books
2005 "Celebrating Craft", The Reader, December, Omaha, NE
2004 500 Wood Bowls, Leier, Peters and Wallace, Lark Books, Sterling Publications,
Asheville, NC
2003 Wood Art Today, Dona Meilach, Schiffer Publications, Westchester, PA
2002 Scratching the Surface, Michael Hosaluk, North Light Books, Cincinnati, Ohio
2001 Object Lessons: Original Art from Guild Artists, Guild Com, Guild Publications,
Madison, Wisconsin
1995 American Craft, June
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
While studying sculpture at the Kansas City Art Institute I worked in all kinds of media and materials but soon settled on wood as a favorite. I liked the natural beauty of it and the contemplative process of working it using traditional methods. I have since evolved into using some not-so-traditional methods but with some precautions it can still be an enjoyable process. By the time I graduated I was working in wood exclusively.
Moving from school into the real world I found it impossible to make a living as a sculptor. But I found that I could satisfy some of those same urges to build things in three-dimensional space by making furniture. And people would actually pay me to do it. So for about 15 years that's what I did, struggling to make ends meet while supporting my family.
While playing around in my studio with a technique I'd come up with to make a different kind of wooden bowl I stumbled onto the path that would lead me back to the more sculptural work I make today. For awhile I made vessels and furniture both but for the past 15 years all I've done is this very satisfying, creative work.
I make wooden vessels because I have to make something and I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't much matter what. These sculptural forms offer the viewer a place to start, the iconic and comfortable bowl and container, and from there I'm free to explore any idea or mood I can imagine. Since my background is a cabinetmaker I usually build a vessel up out of several pieces of wood which is then carved, turned and sometimes painted before being lacquered and polished. I like to work in a scale not usually associated with wood bowls, forcing the viewer to see them in a new light.
In my new wall pieces I approach the wood as a canvas. These undulating wood panels are carved, sometimes turned, and finished with layers of tinted lacquer which is partially sanded away before the piece gets a final stain and clear finish. The panel is not quite flat but usually has the flowing quality of draped fabric or the surface of the sea.
I think of them as picture planes and as wooden objects in their own right. I think of them as fields of color, sometimes inspired by the real fields around my studio, sometimes by other textures I see in nature such as the leafy canopies of trees and light reflecting off the surface