He was born in 1896 in Štiavnik at the foot of the Javorníky mountains. As an adult, he worked as a seasonal agricultural and construction worker, spending more than twenty years traveling around Bohemia as a wireworker and haberdasher. In the later years of his life, he managed his own household in his hometown. He enjoyed working with wood his entire life, skillfully crafting tools and utensils needed for the household. Just like many men of his time, he also assisted in the construction of log houses. His life might not have changed at all if, in 1961, Father Jozef Balušík, a collector of folk art, hadn’t come across his wooden bucket. When he visited him at his home in Štiavnik to order a similar one, he was captivated by a wooden horse and windmill made by the craftsman for his grandson’s pleasure. To assess Pavel Bavnla’s carving potential, Balušík had him make a handle for a ladle. Although he had never seen a ladle before, he carved it to the collector’s satisfaction, and from there he encouraged him to continue creating. The crucified Christ sculpture was the first piece that Balušík persuaded him to make. Despite not feeling drawn to artistic creation due to lack of time and desire to express himself artistically, he eventually attempted to replicate the outlined pattern. With each subsequent corpus, his patience and passion grew, leading him to develop his own unique style. He used self-grown hawthorn, rose hip, juniper, and maple as materials, making his work easier. Balušík then requested a Madonna carving. Giving Bavlna free rein, as there was no longer a need to convince him to create. In a short time, his woodcarvings expanded yearly with new secular and sacred themes drawn from his childhood and youth memories. He took joy in every figurine he carved, not distinguishing between outstanding and average pieces. Over time, he began creating pieces by order, with the satisfaction of his work being secondary, though constantly present. Interestingly, his work did not conform to the norms of collective feelings or thoughts – apart from the priest, none of his fellow citizens showed interest in his products for a long time. Given all these aspects, his work defied the criteria of folk art. On the other hand, from an artistic standpoint, it was distinctly folkloric—pure and strong, reflecting the presence of Štiavnica throughout, his life, memories, faith. Hence, while he didn’t start creating spontaneously out of personal necessity, and even though his work is rooted in the present, a strong trace of tradition can immediately be felt in it, to which Bavlna happily connected in terms of conception and motifs in sacred sculpture as well