Artist's Bio

Artist's BiographyA

Bernie Granados Jr.

Coho Tippy, Bernie, and Bandit.

Bernie Granados,Jr. is a multi-talented artist who works in a wide variety of mediums, including embossed acrylic paintings, watercolor, Prismacolor pencil, pen and ink drawings, wood carvings, ceramic, and bronze. Drawing from his Apache and Zacatec roots, Mr. Granados produces paintings, sculptures, masks, prints, and miniatures featuring beautiful images of horses, buffalo, and ancient ancestral figures inspired by by visions and cave art throughout America. He finds inspiration in Nature’s force and beauty, his smarter-than-human quarter horses, his fellow artists, and his love and respect for the Creator.

As a youth he derived inspiration from the old and contemporary masters, spending much time in art galleries and museums and enjoying time in the presence of these celebrated pieces of art history.

Mr. Granados is a gifted teacher who headed the Fine Arts Department of the Intertribal Pre-University Summer Program at University of California, Irvine and taught at the High School for the Arts in Los Angeles. He is listed in the Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. Bernie was one of the featured artists in the LACMA Exhibition "Native Artists for the 21^st Century" and has had many one-man shows spanning both coasts. He created the "MADCOWpony" for Horsepower New Mexico’s "Trail of Painted Ponies." It was purchased by the late Buck Owens.

He has worked in the film industry for 24 years. Granados’ works are collected by such notables as Ben Kingsley, Dustin Hoffman, and Rodney Grant. His artworks have been used in such shows as "The Native Americans", "Highway to Heaven", "Gabriel’s Fire", "Who’s Harry Crumb?", "Speechless", "Evolution", CSI, "Guns, Girls, and Gambling", and "The Gates".

Commission for CSI, an "ancient" etching of Romulus and Remus.

Today Mr. Granados’ ongoing passion is helping Native youth cultivate their artistic talent and knowledge. He is currently Artist in Residence at the Southwest Museum and is assisting the Museum in developing the "Native Mentors" program which provides an educational opportunity for Native youths to learn more about the arts from the Native professionals in the community. This curriculum is now available for tribes to develop native youth’s artistic techniques at the professional level.

Now, the artist has many new editions available in ceramic tile, bronze, giclees, and incised-metal editions. The editions are now available at the Smithsonian Museum Stores in Washington D.C., The National Museum of the American Indian, New York.

He also has work at The Southwest Museum Store in Highland Park, California, where is proud to be an "artist-in-residence" and co-founder of the "Native Mentors" program. (more at www.indianfamilies.org)

"Spirit Horse Cave" 40' cave installation, designed by the artist and completed with the help of the intrepid staff and volunteers of the Southwest Museum. The exhibition, "Spirit Horses", curated by Dr. Kathy Whittaker, was up for over 2 years.

The "Spirit Horses" Mural. in the Sprague Auditorium. The horse-images are 24" and 36" long.

"Maggie's Pride" B-25j nose art commissioned by Michael Landon Productions. Shown here with Eli Wallach, Michael Landon and Victor French.

"Expo Park Welcomes the World" the official Olympic mural 50' x 100' (1984) executed with East L.A. muralists Jose Luis Gonzales and the late Robert Arenivar, for the LAOOC.

"Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula" on the North wall of the State Building at Leighton and Vermont Streets, across the street from the Los Angeles Coloseum. Below, a shot of the mural taken December of 2006. This mural is located on the North wall of the State Building at Leighton and Vermont Ave. in South Central Los Angeles, California