RAiR | 1986-87

Bernard Schatz

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Bernard ‘Cheyanne’ and ‘L-15’ Schatz (1931-2015) moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of five. He studied theater, medicine and art in the 1950s at, amongst others, the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), graduating with a BA in healing arts and physical therapy in 1957. In the 1960s he toured Los Angeles as the folk musician and performer ‘Cheyanne Schatz’, appearing regularly on the Steve Allen Show on television while managing an art store in Venice Beach under his folk persona. In 1970 Bernard started a physical therapy clinic, only to resign in 1974 and move his family across the country to establish a farm and art studio in the Appalachian hills of West Virginia. His work, under a range of personas including ‘L-15’, was exhibited at art institutions including the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland and the American Primitive Gallery in New York.