Chuck Bauer employs logic when creating his works. His painting process has a clear beginning, middle and end. 

Beginning usually involves a canvas on which the long-time Madison artist has painted an opaque color, like bright red. Then comes a simplified charcoal outline of what Bauer wants to paint using photos or by working outdoors for reference. Bauer tends to gravitate toward natural and representational subjects, like landscapes and the built environment.

After the initial charcoal drawing, Bauer adds a dark and light value using acrylic paint.

Finally, he applies oil paint over the acrylic to bring out the true quality of the scene he's painting. 

Sometimes, Bauer will take more liberties, adding his own personal flair to a normally banal landscape. A winter setting might become a whimsical autumn one. And sometimes, that decision isn't even up to Bauer, he said, as his creations often reveal themselves to him on their own.

"I trust the intelligence of the paint," he said. 

Several of Bauer's pieces have just been added to Carnelian Art Gallery's permanent collection, and are to be exhibited in March as part of a larger celebration of that growing collection. Mark your calendars for 5 p.m. on Friday, March 6, as that is opening night for our Carnelian Collection show. That same evening, Bauer at 6 p.m. plans to give an artist talk detailing his works in the exhibition. As an artist of 60 years, many of those spent in Madison, this is a talk you won't want to miss. 

Bauer originally grew up in Philadelphia. He discovered his passion for art at university.

He is a 1965 graduate of The William Penn Charter School out of Pennsylvania. In 1966, Bauer studied art history in Paris, France, for a summer. 

Bauer went on to receive in 1969 his undergraduate degree at Ohio Wesleyan University. He then obtained his graduate degree in fine art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1970. In 1972, Bauer opened The Soap Opera, a gift retail store, which now operates on State Street in downtown Madison (just a hop and a skip from the gallery), with his husband, also named Chuck Beckwith. 

Together, the couple operated the business until 2016, when they sold it. They enjoyed the creative process of making labels, as well as designing packaging and marketing materials for the store, Bauer said. 

During that time, Bauer refined his artistic process by working with mentors, taking workshops, and experimenting with different techniques on his own. He continues to do so in his retirement, most often turning to en plein air and other forms of traditional, representational easel painting. 

Bauer said it is an honor to be able to exhibit his work at a downtown art space like our gallery. 

We are excited to have him, too.