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The late 1970s found this artist working for wages
in a holster shop in Twin Falls, Idaho. This first experience as a
professional reinforced his early training of taking the time to get
the job done right. He believes speed can foul a project.
In the early 1980s, the theme was consistent as he attended a trade
school for saddlemaking, in Spokane, Washington. Since then, Schwarz
has diligently studied the mechanics of saddlemaking, while continuing
to polish his already ample artistic talent. He credits Ray Holes
Saddle Company, "Chas" Weldon, Dale
Harwood, and more recently Chuck
Stormes, as having a great influence on his development as a saddlemaker.
Often times what is learned has not been so much a certain technique
to be applied, but a way of thinking. Schwarz has noted the folks
doing great work have successfully sorted out the attitudes that free
artisans to be creative and produce the work. Schwarz says, "I believe
the best saddles made are those that successfully blend function and
art." He stays in contact with the using end of his saddles especially
during the summer on the family ranch at Kilgore, Idaho.
Whether packing salt, roping, and doctoring cattle or designing a
new flower for a carving pattern on a saddle, his versatility is apparent.
He maintains no file of standard flower stamping; each saddle is assigned
something new. He simply picks up a piece of leather and a stylus
and begins free-hand drawing the flower pattern onto its surface,
not unlike a painter at his canvas with brush in hand.
Schwarz says he has found great value in always returning to the
basics, revisiting the fertile ground of the past, remembering the
God who makes up who we are, honoring traditions, and keeping function
paramount in his work. Fundamental, as well, is his family life, wife
Rose, three children Sara, T.J. and Sadie, all of whom add an important
measure of balance and vitality to his vocation.
His work has been exhibited at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts
in Sun Valley, Idaho, the "Gathering of Gear" exhibit at Elko, Nevada's
Cowboy Poetry Gathering, the "Trappings of the West" in Flagstaff,
Arizona, "Trappings of Texas" in Alpine, and the National Cowboy Hall
of Fame inaugural TCAA show in 1999.
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