Bastian’s body of work encompasses a wide variety of original carvings including farm animals, wild creatures, fish, birds, spiritual and mystical figures, and patriotic pieces. In fact, during the first Bush administration Bastian was commissioned to create several large Americana pieces for the U.S. Embassy in South Africa. Among the twenty-five carvings were “Washington Kneeling Before His God”, “The Goddess of Liberty”, and “Lincoln Contemplating The Good Book”. But possibly the most desired figures are Bastian’s renowned Santa carvings. They are polychromed in gloriously bright colors and accompanied with varied accessories, such as a caged partridge, a rifle and geese, or dogs (modeled after Bastian’s own champion Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs). Almost always, the Santa carvings include a feather tree sprig, reminiscent of the old German candy containers.
Bastian strongly believes in his craft and asserts that, "folk art has survived generation to generation
not because it is dictated by a designer’s whim, but rather embodies the spirit of the folk and the artist".
