Patric Clauris Claiborne Bauernschmidt

Bauernschmidt was born Clauris Patric Claiborne in St. Louis. She was educated at the Visitation Academy in St. Louis, the Memphis Art Institute, the University of Tennessee Medical School, the University of Maryland Medical School and the Maryland Institute (now the Maryland Institute, College of Art).

Bauernschmidt held several positions in Memphis, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. Her titles included Director of Medical Art, Dr. Willis C. Campbell Clinic, Memphis; Director of Art, Operative Surgery Department, University of Maryland Medical School; Instructor Anatomical Models, University of Maryland Dental School; and Medical Illustrator, Doctors Hospital, Washington, D.C. In addition, Bauernschmidt also worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

In 1942, Bauernschmidt married Lieutenant John Edward Bauernschmidt from Oxen Hill, Maryland. She accompanied her husband to his posting at the War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania where she developed an interest in the traditional Tin Painter’s Art of the Pennsylvania Dutch. While there, Bauernschmidt designed and painted a mural at the base’s church.

When Bauernschmidt’s husband was assigned to the United States Information Agency, the couple moved to Tokyo in 1956. She took up portraiture and began a series, “Faces of the Pacific.” While living in Tokyo, she lectured, taught, and regularly appeared on radio and television.

The Bauernschmidts were next posted to Djakarta, Indonesia in 1959, where she continued to teach, lecture, and illustrated medical texts. In 1961, they returned to the United States and settled in Washington, D.C. While there, she continued to paint, lecture, make television appearances, and contribute to local newspapers.

In 1969, they moved to Hawaii where she was commissioned to paint the Hawaiian Ali’i for the historic Kawaiaha’o Church in Honolulu. Her other commissions include portraits of State Minister Matsutarō Shōriki of Japan, Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., and Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas. Over eighty of Bauernschmidt’s paintings are on display in Hawaii in institutions such as Straub Clinic, Tripler Army Hospital, the Hawaiian State Capitol, the Queen Lili’uokalani Children’s Center, as well as in schools, hotels, and churches. She was a member of the National Society of Arts and Letters, Freedom Foundation, National League of American Pen Women, and a past president of the Association of Honolulu Artists.