SEALY — There is a lot of history hidden inside nursing facilities like Avir Healthcare in Sealy. Residents who have become anonymous in their senior years were history in the making during their years in the “world.” One such Avir resident is Norman Baasch, a world-renowned artist who grew up on a Kansas farm and helped shape art in his own way.
Baasch started his art journey in 1957 when he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Bethany College in Kansas. He later received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the State University of Iowa. Baasch took his love for artistry and taught as an instructor in painting at various universities and exhibited his works for the public's purview.
Baasch explains in a past interview with journalist Vicki Bomke Thomson his inspirations for his art, “As I experience things in life, reasons for expression vary. When you’re an artist, there’s a moment when your pets are the most beautiful. Maybe you’re outside in the garden and nature is right there. If you’re in the mountains, it can be the sky or the sound of the water roaring down the canyons at night.”
Whatever his inspirations, many of his paintings are abstract and surreal, with subject matter that may be unsettling to some. Most of his paintings show a mannequin with severed limbs, but each has a historical context to it.
Avir at Sealy, at 1401 Eagle Lake Road in Sealy, realized his dreams of seeing his art again when Avir Administrator Ginger Whitley worked with her team to pull his artwork together and showcase them during an art exhibit on June 27 at the nursing facility where he is now a resident. Baasch was all smiles and, at the same time, in happy tears when he said he thought he would never see these paintings again since they had been in storage for about 10 years.
His paintings sell for thousands of dollars and are seen around the world.
How many more Baasch’s or movers and shakers are hidden in plain sight in nursing facilities, waiting to be rediscovered?
