biography

Between the ages of 15 to 18 years old, I had one foot in high school and the other foot in art schools.  I attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles on Saturdays and in the Summer.  I also went to Art Center, another Los Angeles art school when not at Chouinard.  After high school I majored in painting at a California State University.

​

Like most young artists I started out with life drawing, but even in those early years I gravitated to abstraction.  I liked the particular challenges of abstraction; each addition of brush strokes, color and shape dramatically alters the piece. 

​

My work has always been about thinking; I am not an expressionist.

​

I studied art history in California and when I moved to New York I took art history courses because I wanted more knowledge and also l had a job at the Guggenheim Museum.  

​

New York has been central to my development with its great museums and every changing gallery scene.  

​

A few of the artists that I absolutely adore are Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, David Smith, Lesley Dill, Nick Cave and Vanessa German.

​

Making art is essential to my being; when I am working I feel centered.  In a world where privacy is constantly being invaded, my work affords me a place that is private and totally in my control

​

1991      Master of Art. City University of New York.

​

1985      Master of Science. Pratt Institute.

​

1979       Bachelor of Art.  California State 

                 University at Northridge.

​

B.L. Schwartz