Maize Bausch

I met Maize a couple of years ago when I photographed some of her paintings.  She is vibrant and lively, a force of nature.  Since I did this interview her grandson has posted an archive of her work here.

Maize was born in Greenwich, CT in 1925 and began painting in her early 20s and became seriously involved in her art around 1972.  She and her husband Carl moved to Vermont and designed and built their home in Charlotte in the early 1960s.  While they were raising their children, Carl began a boat building business and Maize continued to paint.  She remembers Carl's decision to build her a studio and her delight and anticipation as it progressed.

Using the studio, finished in 1980, made a huge difference in her painting.  Maize feels her work took a leap, became much more spontaneous and energetic.  She would spend hours working and listening to music on her tiny radio - classical, jazz, Billie Holliday.  When Carl heard the radio he bought a better sound system!

Both partners loved their work and spent many happy, productive years, rejoining each other for dinner in the evenings.  Maize's painting career flourished.  She was a member of the Womens' Caucus for Art in Vermont and she exhibited her work here and around New England.  Maize says her connections to the arts community and other artists are very important to her.  She looks forward to the South End Community Art Hop each year, exhibiting and meeting old and new friends, always showing new work.

She feels her life is very full now, with her work, children and grandchildren.  Carl died in 1988 and she muses about how he would interact with the family, what a wonderful grandfather he would have been.

I asked Maize how she stays so energetic.  She loves to be out and about, in the woods at home, gardening, especially flowers - high tone marigolds - and spending with her family.  She greets each day with her yoga practice, swims when she can, eats lightly.  Maize values good conversation, not just chit chat, but real substance.

Her inspiration?  Being alive.  "The statement - being alive - has a ring to it.  It wakes us up and directs good."  Of her art, Maize says, "It's abstract.  I'm not looking at anything in particular, I want to stay open; I don't paint exactly what I see, but what comes from within."