Bernard Winitz Growing up with younger twin sisters and a working mother in Philadelphia, Bernard Winitz used unconventional materials to create art that would cover the bare walls of his childhood home. Throughout his youth, Winitz enjoyed visiting art museums. He gravitated particularly toward modernism, citing that it both enthralled and calmed him.

During the Vietnam war, Winitz was stationed at the Presidio Army Hospital in San Francisco, where he managed the eye clinic. Afterwards he was discharged honorably and graduated college, which led him to become Vice President of an eyewear corporation. Winitz’s success in the optical business compelled him to open state-of-the-art, high-end optical stores using his artistic prowess.

Creating designs and layouts for many stores helped Winitz transition into renovating homes. While re-imagining household spaces, Winitz notes that he began to dream of making art: “literally. Ideas for works of art came to me while I slept. The challenge was to then execute the visions. Once I began a piece of art, it started to take on a life of its own… I listened to what it told me to do next. My pieces are like children to me, each being born with its own personality.” Bernard Winitz’s largest and most recent project was to transform a former bus garage into his home and gallery space. Over the years, Winitz has amassed a large collection of abstract paintings and sculptures, creating what he refers to as his ‘own modern art wing’.