The Artist
About the Artist
Peter Bodo Gawenda completed the German Air Force Academy and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the German Air Force. After different assignments in the German Army and Air Force and graduations from Command and Staff school and Air War College, his assignments in Germany included squadron commander, staff planner in high-level German headquarters, and in NATO.
In the United States, he held liaison positions in US Army schools, he advanced to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and became a member of the German General Staff, spending an administrative assignment in the prestigious Fuehrungsakademie der Bundeswehr (Leadership Academy for German and Foreign Military and Civilians earmarked for high leadership positions) in Hamburg, Germany. He spent time in France, Holland, and Denmark and left the German Airforce in 1981, immigrating to Texas with his family, and bringing his wife Irma, back home. He had met his Hispanic wife during fighter pilot training with his US counterparts in his early career days in the United States. Peter completed his education with a Master’s in International Relations and a Doctorate in Education. He served as one of the vice presidents of the University of Texas at Brownsville. Peter has two children. A daughter who lives with her family in Dallas, Texas and a son who lives with his family in Brownsville, Texas.
Peter is also an author of several books, including “The Children’s War,” in which Peter draws on his own first-hand experience as a
child living in Germany during WWII to reflect on the impact the war had on children, and “Irma’s Story: American by Birth, Hispanic by Choice,” which chronicles the life of Peter’s wife, Irma, and the experiences of the “Texan Gawendas” during their tenure in the German military in Europe and the United States and in Higher Education in the United States. The Children’s War and
Irma's Story have been used in several high school classrooms in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Peter started art as a hobby career already as a child. One of his grandmothers used to take him to an orthodox church in Silesia, now Poland when he was a child (from age three to age seven). From age eight to ten he was an altar boy during orthodox services. Later he was exposed to Tafelmalerei and Icon painting by a professor in High School where he became serious about his art classes. While in High School, when still contemplating to enter Priesthood, he spent several months in two Catholic Monasteries where the exposure to and painting of Christian Art became part of his daily activities. Several years later, during an assignment in Cologne, he concentrated on painting and restoring icons under the supervision of an exiled Russian monk. Peter continued his icon restoration and painting
throughout his military and post military careers. He had several exhibitions in Germany, continues his exhibitions
in the United States, and has also illustrated several books which are historical reviews of the Hispanic community in Texas and neighboring Mexico and were used for educational purposes at the University of Texas in Brownsville.
