Born in 1931, Peter was a refugee from East Prussia who, in 1945, fled to Germany with his family when he was an impressionable teenager. Those experiences left a deep scar, as this Manifesto, written for the catalogue of his first one-man show at the Burnaby Art Gallery in 1976, clearly shows.

I am compulsively creative.

The answer lies in my reaction to a world I perceived as overwhelmingly chaotic, hostile and destructive, the world of war-ravaged Germany... creating my own world and my self out of that world was my only defence, my survival method in a world insanely bent on destruction. In this sense, my creativity has a religious significance... my art is my religion.

His creative output was extremely diverse, and included paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, boats, furniture and jewelry. He practiced all the arts of his ancestors, all except architecture. This was a lifelong disappointment.

For the fascinating story of his life, his art, and his marriage, visit REBEL MUSE, My Life with Peter Paul Ochs, on Amazon Kindle books. You can also order the print version, a second, updated edition with more details about Ochs' early life, at proword@shaw.ca