bowls and vessels

Bowls From an One Hundred Year Ash Tree

Five bowls turned from part of a salvaged Ash tree from Peabody, Kansas. The tree was well over one hundred years old and was nearly five feet in diameter. Most of it we milled into lumber but some was set aside for making wooden bowls. It is a humbling and awe-filled experience getting to work with material from such a being as was this tree.

A new print and BAUMWERKSHOP, our new online store

A Witness, the Heavenly Counsel, 2018 linocut print by Jack Baumgartner

Baumwerkshop

Marketing my work has always been precarious territory for me.  At a fundamental level, I am much more interested in making my work than trying to sell it.  Philosophically and morally, I struggle with the slippery slope of salesmanship and authenticity.  Authenticity as a word has already been pretty much trashed by our cultural trend towards filtered-authenticity in order to generate likes and sell products.  I am certainly guilty of it, myself.  Likes are addictive.  But it all leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth.  It is hard to not feel like marketing breeds a certain level of dishonesty that we have decided to be ok with as a society. 

Usually my work is both deeply personal and (I hope) deeply spiritual.  I struggle often with the feeling that I am prostituting both myself and the things of God when I set out to peddle these visual representations in the marketplace.  I don’t really have a satisfying resolution for this uncomfortable feeling, except for the opposing weight of the reactions of “my” audience, expressing a desire to share in these things.   

I do want to sell my work and provide an income for my family and finance future projects.  It is a part of life and a part of growing, of being fruitful.  It is part of work, which is a divine invitation.

I have a calling to make art and what I hope are beautiful objects, and useful pieces of furniture.  I have a calling to make that work accessible to the culture I am a part of.  I want to try to do that in as straightforward a way as I know how.  This new web store is an effort to do that. 

You can get to the store by going to https://baumwerkshop.com, or you can select the menu of this sight and click on “Purchase Work“.  I really do hope that you will visit and let me know what you think.  I also really hope that you might purchase something, if you see something you like.  There should be some exciting new things showing up there in the coming weeks.

Thank you, for supporting me and following along on this journey.  God is good.

  • Jack

    

The Benthic Vessel

Benthic:  of, relating to, or occurring in the depths of the ocean (from Merriam-Webster).  So dubbed by my friend, Tom, this form is known as The Benthic Vessel (in red oak).  No one is sure whether they like it or not at first, including me.

Sister Hog, Brother Tree, and the Voice of Copper: a Celebration of Long Labor and Process

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“JACK’S STORY” BY ISAIAH ELDRIDGE

Wood Turning – Jack’s Story from Isaiah Eldridge on Vimeo.

Isaiah Eldridge, a local film-maker and journalist, spent some time with me last week as I we both plied our trades.