Bucks County Herald – March 29, 2007

Bob Keegan

Dear Friends,

Good morning. Last week, Mighty Betsy and I met a fascinating couple who live on a farm nearby. It was like taking a 60-year trip down memory lane. Lois and Bob Keegan own the Haycock Township property where a famous Bucks County artist once lived. Bob Keegan is a sculptor and his specialty is “Berggeist,” the folk art of Austria. He told me that he’s the only Berggeist sculptor in America.

More about that in a moment.

We met the Keegans through Matt Clark, Jr., one of my boyhood friends. The Clarks lived on that farm where I often played. Several years ago, Matt retired as the Medical Editor for Newsweek but he still returns to Quakertown for an annual visit.

His father, Matt, Sr. was one of my parent’s closest friends. His pictures graced the covers and stories for Saturday Evening Post and Colliers magazines during the 1930’s, ‘40’s and ‘50’s. Matt, Jr. contacted Bob Keegan about the old farm and included me in the correspondence.

Bob Keegan has a fascinating past. He was a track star during his high school and college days. Among the ten fastest high school sprinters in America, he won a full scholarship to Seton Hall University. In 1953, he tied the national collegiate record for the 60-yard dash with a time of 6.2 seconds. And at age 74, he’s ranked number one in the world for sprints in his age category. MB liked his dashing good looks.

Keegan was also a “spook.” For 20 years, he served in U. S. Army intelligence and had tours in Vietnam, Hawaii, and Germany. When he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1974, Keegan was the Director of Operations for all U. S. Army intelligence operations in Europe.

Stationed in Germany, Keegan learned the folk art of Berggeist while skiing the German and Austrian Alps on weekends. Austrian artists introduced their wood carving techniques to him.

Art comes naturally to him. “My mother and brother are good artists,” he told me. “But I’m color blind.” So, painting wouldn’t be the ideal medium. “Actually, I cheated on the eye test to get into the army,” he laughed.

What is Berggeist?

“Berggeist means mountain spirits,” Keegan began. Alpine carvers gather wood from avalanches and carve faces into them. Keegan told me that he’s done more than 10,000 pieces. “In German, they’re called Wurzel Mannel, or root men,” he added. “The hardest part is finding the right piece of wood. You have to look for the rhythm in the wood,” he said. “You shouldn’t punch a face into the wood but rather, release the face from the wood.”

What started as a hobby has become a vibrant business. I read two stories about him...one in the New York Times and the other in U. S. A. Today. “His sculptures are old men of the mountains,” U.S.A. Today reported, “many with whimsical, somewhat cherubic faces.” Keegan’s one-of-a kind works of art are found in gardens in more than 19 countries.

“Sculptures vary from six inches to over six feet, prices from $50 to several thousand dollars,” the NYT chimed in.

“The people who buy my sculptures have to be educated, eclectic, romantic and artistically oriented,” he says. “It’s so different.”

Keegan’s Berggeist took a material turn when he moved to Bucks County. He left wood behind and now works exclusively in lava rock, also known as “feather” rock. Twenty years ago, his wife wanted to camouflage the apron of their outdoor swimming pool. Keegan chose lava rock for the project. Today, you can find his outdoor sculpture in Bucks County gardens.

“We’re street artists,” he told me. “We’re not shown in galleries but we did 25 shows each year. To be successful, you need a product that’s good,” Keegan continued, “and the artist has to sell himself.” He praises his wife for promoting him. “Lois is gregarious and has a photographic memory. She can remember who bought what, when.”

(It pays to have a bright, good-looking wife around…I should know.)

What I like about Bob Keegan’s Berggeist is that it’s unusual, affordable but individualized. He has a website- www.alpine-art.com or you can reach him at 215-538-8164. Mighty Betsy is eyeing one of his “cherubs” for her garden. Keegan told me that he’s known as the “Village Chiseler.”

“Quite a few lawyers have asked me to buy the name,” he laughed.

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith