Oma Ziegenfuss (George Schafer)

(Bio courtesy of Mani)

Artist, visionary, mystic, renegade, non-conformist, writer, philosopher, romantacist is to name a few of the titles that can be applied to

George Schafer - Oma Ziegenfuss. Painting under the pseudonym, Nan Cuz, has added another name to the list "Oma". As to what

Oma did best and for what he can truly be recognized as is for the viewer to decide. Without any doubt, however, Oma was a true

visionary with a passion to express his dreams and visions. He never considered himself an artist, however, but felt that he was the hand

of the "Mother" and painted what he saw in the space between the worlds which he perceived.

Oma was born on March 25,1926 in Leinfelde Germany, a village in the northern Germany that is on the border with Denmark. At the

age of 15 Oma was enrolled in the Hitler Youth Organization which was obligatory for the boys at that time. His true allegiance,

however, was to the Danish people. During World War ll he was stationed in Denmark and he distributed pamphlets for the Danish

Resistance. He was betrayed, captured by the Gestapo, found guilty of espionage and was sentenced to death at age 17. He was jailed

in different concentration camps while awaiting execution and was interrogated and tortured. Twice he was placed in front of firing

squads in an effort to coerce him into betraying the other members of the Resistance.

His sentence was mysteriously commuted by Himmler to 15 years just prior to the end of the war which graciously ended his

internment which consisted of hard labor in 5 different concentration camps. After he was released Oma traveled with the Romani

gypsies for 2 years learning from them how they dealt with persecution and perceived at that time that their pain was transcended

through their creativity. Oma became fascinated in understanding the origins of hatred and violence in the human being. With this in

mind he studied philosophy, psychology, history, mythology and semantics. In 1947, Oma returned to the University in Fulda

Germany. Thereafter, he worked at a psychiatric and neurological institute in Zurich Switzerland where he met and collaborated with

Dr Albert Hoffman participating with him in research and experiments on time and space as well as experiments with synthetic

mescaline. Oma wrote an article entitled, "Experimental Research on Time and Space", which initiated a personal correspondence with

Albert Einstein. His experiments with synthetic mescaline helped him to understand and to remember the visions that he had

experienced as a baby. This led him later on to write and to illustrate the book," In The Kingdom of Mescal", which paralleled his

visions after having been severely burned, resulting in the permanent scarring of his abdomen.

Around 1950, after his work and study in Zurich, Oma became a journalist for Die Welt, a Hamburg newspaper. There he met

Ingmar Heinneman, his future wife, whom he renamed Nan Cuz. She was part Mayan and part German and worked as a photographer

for the newspaper. They married in 1952 and shortly thereafter, Oma, who had been teaching himself to paint, began to use the name

Nan Cuz as his signature but continued to write under the name Georg Schafer.In addition to his regular job and painting, Oma

freelanced and expanded his writting with other magazines and newspapers. He was sent on assignments to do interviews in East Berlin

as well as in England. He came in contact with Martin Heidegger, Carl Kustav Jung and S.I. Hayakawa.

A turning point in Oma 's life was meeting Lama Anagarika Govinda, a German Buddhist monk who had traveled in Tibet and from

whom Oma learned the Tibetan color system, which is one in which colors correspond to sounds. He further integrated them with the

forms of the five elements from the Greeks which became a basis for his artwork. This system enabled Oma to reach a deeper level of

expression. It was Oma's wish that his painting be the language to bring people to understand that which we all have in unison by

using our archetype symbols, colors, sounds and forms. In the mean time, Oma began to have exhibitions and to write for Der Spiegal.

He was invited to show at the Musee d' Art Moderne in Paris. There he met Miguel Angel Asturias, Nobel peace prize winner from

Guatemala who was the Ambassador to France. In 1970, he invited Oma to exhibit at the Presidential Palace in Guatemala City. After

the exhibit Oma decided to make Guatemala his residence. He first worked in the slums helping to train people in working skills. Then

he worked with a team of doctors to assess the health conditions of the Mayan Indians around Lake Atitlan. This led to his brief return

to Germany at which time he raised $1,000,000 for medical equipment predominantly from the sale of his paintings. In 1974 Oma

founded the Oma Ling Pa Temple in Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. The center evolved for 4 years at which time Oma separated from his

wife and began traveling to the United States to give exhibitions in Boulder Colorado, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Santa Fe. In

1979 he met Sherry Munson, at the Munson Gallery in Santa Fe. Mani, as she was later named would become his wife and mother of

his 4 children. They traveled first to Sri Lanka to visit Nyaniponika Mahathera, the head monk of the Theravada School of Buddhism

with whom he had corresponded for years. Oma had intended to repaint the temple art that was in dire need of repair; however,

Nyanoponika wasn't prepared to receive Oma's pregnant wife .

After their first child was born in Sri Lanka immigration problems ensued. After being put in jail, Mani and her daughter Maya

returned to the United States while Oma was forced to remain behind and was ultimately sent back to Germany via the assistance of

his publisher. It was 8 months later that Mani and Oma were reunited in Germany. After 3 months, they returned to Guatemala where

they would spend the next 7 years making their home among the Mayan Indians at which time they expanded their family. For Oma

Guatemala was becoming a dying culture under the "boots of progress" and he realized that it was time to leave. They decided to make

the United States a stepping stone while he searched for a country that would be receptive to his vision. They made the move to

Chatham , Massachusetts, a small town on Cape Cod where Mani's family had roots. It was isolating for Oma and he was not in good

health. One year and half later Oma suffered a heart attack. He recovered and prepared for an exhibition in Seattle, Wa. The exhibition

was successful but stressful. Oma returned but had another attack on January 11, from which he did not recover. It was January 11

1991, 2 weeks after their 4th child was born.

Mani spent 8 more months in Chatham at which time she collaborated with and eventually married Roger Stephan, (Shorba), who had

worked and studied with Oma. They wished to work together to make Oma's work known to the world. Unfortunately, there was too

much conflict and despite 12 years of sincere attempts, they were not able to bring Oma's work to the public in a definative way and

separated. Mani is presently the owner of a large collection of Oma's work.