Schowengerdt holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from the Kansas City Art Institute and a master’s degree in fine art and literature from the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR. While living in New York, Schowengerdt began sculpting in wood. His first piece was a male torso carved from a 400 lb. piece of a pine tree that was cut down and sectioned behind a building where he was working in Brooklyn. Friends helped carry the log to Schowengerdt’s second story apartment where he cleared his kitchen table and began the transformation. 

“I love working with wood, tree parts, for all the natural variety it affords. My work is a balance between allowing the material to remain wild and sculpting it to achieve a sense of connectivity, to humanize it. I think a couple of my pieces would make decent roommates!”

After working as an electrician for 25 years and managing his own company for much of that time, Schowengerdt escaped to Marfa, Texas to find a home in an environment of like minded people, a community he had been seeking for 30 years. Since moving to Marfa Schowengerdt has continued to sculpt in wood, searching out and collecting tree parts which he can manipulate, carve, and construct to fit developing narratives.

Of his sculpture, Schowengerdt says, “All the classical concerns apply, but I think it’s the narrative that drives me. It’s what gets me up in the morning.”