Riverview artist making a living at his craft.

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Margaret Patricia Eaton

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Is it possible to still love doing what you did when you were five years old? Is it possible to make a successful living at it? To both of those questions, Riverview artist Stephen Bauckman says, "Absolutely, yes!"

He recalls his kindergarten teacher in Waltham, Mass. referring to him as her "little artist" and says that he he did go through a "crayon phase."

"I went through it quickly. I found them to be too blunt and early on recognized that a pencil drawing provided the kind of precise detail I enjoy."

By middle school, Bauckman's mind was made up. He would be a professional artist, so upon high school graduation he enrolled at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, where he completed the Bachelor of Fine Arts program in graphic art. Here he was exposed to a variety of disciplines including water colours, oils/acrylics, sculpture, pottery, typography, art history, design and composition and silk screen processes.

Since both Bauckman's parents were Maritimers, he spent annual vacations in the area and it was during one of these that he met Lorraine from Moncton. At the time, he was working in advertising in Boston, so after they married, Lorraine moved there. After five years, his parents decided to return to Canada and since Lorraine's family was here already, the Moncton region, and Riverview in particular, appeared to Bauckman as "a great place to grow," both for his family and his business.

In 1974, when the Bauckman's bought a home in Riverview for their family, which in time included four children, the closest advertising agency was in Halifax. Bauckman recognized an opportunity to start his own studio, Design Spectrum, developing corporate logos, stationary, business cards and literature for such well-known and successful clients as La Min D'ôr, Ivan's Camera, CN's Atlantic Region, Ed's Submarine and Val Halla Estates.

Bauckman's Riverview slogan, "A Great Place to Grow" appeared on billboards, with his drawing of a tree branch holding a nest of blue robin's eggs, at each entrance to the town in 1985, welcoming its residents home from their work in Moncton.

By 1999, Bauckman realized the skills he had learned in art school, as applied to graphic art and advertising, had been replaced by computer technology, so after 25 years as a commercial artist, he decided it was time to get back to drawing and painting for the joy of it.

Thus began Bauckman's second career as an artist and teacher at Bauckman Studio, where he runs three evening classes a week for adults and children over ten years. "Sometimes students get frustrated. They say I make it look easy, but it took me 40 years to make it look easy," he says. "I begin with a pencil drawing and then use water colour. With small pointed brushes, I can get really good detail. I like to dispel some of the false assumptions people have about water colours. They think it's composed of 'controlled accidents,' that it can't be detailed and that the colours have to be soft and pastel. If those characteristics are present, then the artist needs training, because he doesn't know how to control his medium. Water colours can be just as bright, colourful and precisely detailed as any art medium."

This brings us to the work that Bauckman has been producing for the past 10 years, mainly detailed water colours of iconic Maritime landscapes, including lighthouses, bridges, churches and schools as well as the Moncton skyline as seen from Riverview, the original of which has been purchased by the City of Moncton. Smaller prints of these large pieces are available for purchase, but he says that commissioned paintings of private homes and local businesses are his mainstay.

A gently humorous painting commemorating 50 years of Moncton Junior Beavers Hockey is reminiscent of the work of Norman Rockwell, who is admired by Bauckman. "Rockwell's one of the greatest artists of history," he believes, "but often underrated because he was commercially successful."

Most recently, instead of painting pictures of kids, Bauckman has been painting for kids, in a series entitled Zoo Kids. So far there are 12 charming paintings in the series of baby animals including Charlie, the Penguin; Gracie, the Giraffe; Theo, the Kaola; Claude, the Bear caught in the act of raiding a picnic basket, and Tulip, the Pig. The original water colours are reproduced on tough polycarbonate material, are totally kid proof, suitable for decorating a nursery or child's bedroom and affordable at $24.99, unframed. Of his new line, Bauckman says, "It's art that children can warm up to, and it won't break their parent's bank."

Christmas shoppers will be able to find Bauckman's work, including reproductions of some well-known area landmarks, including Moncton High School, the Irving Chapel at Bouctouche and the Cape Enrage Lighthouse, as well as the entire new Zoo Kids collection, at Turner's Christmas at the Coliseum 22nd annual show and sale, November 27 to 29.