Meet Walter Busch
Walter Busch has been creative most of his life, but only recently turned his attention to making artistic pieces in wood and epoxy. Born in Long Island, New York, he was only a few years old when his family moved by boat to a waterfront property in Palm Beach Florida. His family founded two businesses in the marine industry, immersing Walter in all things boating. The family home and businesses shared the same property, giving him ample access to tools and the space to work on projects. It was here that he learned the craft of working with wood and resin and discovered his great love for the sea.
Walters Early Years
Each summer, Walters parents would close-up shop, load the family on the boat and escape to the Bahamas until school came back in session. They would explore the Abaco Islands, staying on the boat and living off the bounty of the sea, feasting on conch, fish, and lobster with barely a stop in any port or settlement. This continued each year until his early teens. The last few years they spent at an island that was a natural harbor where several old Spanish shipwrecks were found. The place was still a pirate haven, with over a dozen pilfered wrecks dating from the 50’s and 60’s scattered around the island. Bringing school work with him, he spent an extended time at the island, including riding-out hurricane David. These years had a major influence on Walter’s life.
In his mid-teens, Walter became immersed in surfing and skateboarding. After several years as an avid surfer, he also took up wake-surfing (like water skiing, but on a small surfboard). He designed and built his own wake-surfing board, possibly one of the first ever made. As if this was not enough, he also built an 8ft high and 16ft wide half-pipe for skateboarding. But, as he approached 20, Walter was moving away from surfing and skateboarding, entering the family business.
Walter Goes to Work
For the next decade, Walter worked in the family boat canvas shop by day and toured south Florida as a musician by night, ranging from Gainesville to Key West. However, the music scene and the economy were changing, and he had larger aspirations. In 1999, at the age of 30, Walter left the family business and music to found an internet startup based on streaming video, five years before there was a YouTube. Unfortunately, the “dot-com bubble” burst and the company that housed his servers and software disappeared overnight – ending the project just as it was about to launch. With his family selling their business and property around this time, he was left with nothing to fall back on and had to chart a new course.
Walter Takes a Creative Turn
Broke and with little more than some computers and video equipment, Walter decided to start a new business from the ashes. Bringing in several friends from high school, he began a production company, Palm Beach Image Factory. After years of hard work, he grew the company into an advertising agency which he runs to this day. In his twenty-plus years with PBIF, he produced hundreds of TV commercials, websites, ad-campaigns, and a full season of South Florida Real Estate Update, which aired on the local ABC affiliate in 2014.
Walter’s biggest production credit to date was writing, producing, directing, editing and acting in the feature film “Rolling Thunder, Life in an Outlaw Motorcycle Club”, available for rent on Amazon Prime. During the filming he met his future wife and fellow artist, Jennifer.
Reconnecting with His Passions
After 20+ years of advertising work that mandated staring at computer screens all day, Walter needed a way to reconnect with his roots, so he took up woodwork again. Starting with simple cutting boards, he transitioned to more challenging projects, most recently creating clocks and wall-art, all inspired by his life experiences. There is no telling what Walter will do next, although he has alluded to making another film and writing one or more books. Only time will tell!
