About the Artist
Author and Sculptor Lawrence Bechtel grew up in Wheaton, Illinois, located about thirty miles west of Chicago. His father was a literature professor at Wheaton College and his mother was an elementary school librarian, and between them they nurtured in their four children a love of books, a belief in the virtue of “creativity,” and in delight in good conversation.
Early on, Lawrence developed an interest in handicrafts, “whittling,” and then woodcarving. From this braiding together of reading and making grew his dual and interwoven involvement in the literary and visual arts. Lawrence graduated from Wheaton College in 1971, and for nearly a decade, after the fashion of Mark Twain, Jack London, or Jack Kerouac, though in milder fashion, he gathered “writerly experiences,” including backpacking in Alaska and British Columbia, picking fruit in Okenagon, Washington, working at Cape Foulweather Boat Company on the Oregon coast, and perhaps most importantly for his future as an author, living and working in a lively neighborhood on the Near West Side of Chicago. It was here that he encountered people who later emerged as characters in his fiction.
Early on, Lawrence developed an interest in handicrafts, “whittling,” and then woodcarving. From this braiding together of reading and making grew his dual and interwoven involvement in the literary and visual arts. Lawrence graduated from Wheaton College in 1971, and for nearly a decade, after the fashion of Mark Twain, Jack London, or Jack Kerouac, though in milder fashion, he gathered “writerly experiences,” including backpacking in Alaska and British Columbia, picking fruit in Okenagon, Washington, working at Cape Foulweather Boat Company on the Oregon coast, and perhaps most importantly for his future as an author, living and working in a lively neighborhood on the Near West Side of Chicago. It was here that he encountered people who later emerged as characters in his fiction.
In 1979, Lawrence married and settled in Southwest Virginia, began a family, and worked with his father-in-law building houses. In 1983 he entered graduate school at Virginia Tech, writing his thesis on D.H. Lawrence, and in 1985 was hired by the English Department as an Instructor. Additionally, he reviewed books for The Roanoke Times, and wrote a column on stockcar racing called “Inside Racing” for The News Messenger, which formed the basis for his first (and as yet unpublished) novel, The Favorite. As therapy for a divorce in 1989, he plunged into figurative clay sculpture and tree carving.
After months of volunteering his time to organize and grow campus recycling efforts, Lawrence proposed to administrators that he be hired to grow the program. His proposal was accepted, and he was appointed Virginia Tech's first Recycling Coordinator. The work was for him a mission, and opportunity for him as an artist to create and communicate. Once the program was functioning effectively, Lawrence again took up figurative sculpture and secured significant public commissions. This included a bronze portrait sculpture of Captain Charles Schaeffer, the founder shortly after the Civil War of what became Schaeffer Memorial Baptist Church and the “Hill School”—a school for emancipated slaves. From this experience he formed a deep friendship with Nannie Hairston, a stalwart social and civil-rights activist. In about 2012, drawing upon extensive research into the life and times of Thomas Jefferson, Lawrence began writing “A Partial Sun,” the first volume of his historical fiction trilogy, The Tinsmith’s Apprentice.
Lawrence lives in Blacksburg with his wife Ann Shawhan, a retired Family Nurse Practitioner, artist, and avid gardener. They share the pleasure of three children, now grown: Teague (from Lawrence’s first marriage), Rose, and Haley Jayne.
After months of volunteering his time to organize and grow campus recycling efforts, Lawrence proposed to administrators that he be hired to grow the program. His proposal was accepted, and he was appointed Virginia Tech's first Recycling Coordinator. The work was for him a mission, and opportunity for him as an artist to create and communicate. Once the program was functioning effectively, Lawrence again took up figurative sculpture and secured significant public commissions. This included a bronze portrait sculpture of Captain Charles Schaeffer, the founder shortly after the Civil War of what became Schaeffer Memorial Baptist Church and the “Hill School”—a school for emancipated slaves. From this experience he formed a deep friendship with Nannie Hairston, a stalwart social and civil-rights activist. In about 2012, drawing upon extensive research into the life and times of Thomas Jefferson, Lawrence began writing “A Partial Sun,” the first volume of his historical fiction trilogy, The Tinsmith’s Apprentice.
Lawrence lives in Blacksburg with his wife Ann Shawhan, a retired Family Nurse Practitioner, artist, and avid gardener. They share the pleasure of three children, now grown: Teague (from Lawrence’s first marriage), Rose, and Haley Jayne.
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