MARTIN GRELLE 1954 - 0000 Martin Grelle was born and raised in Clifton, Texas where he began painting and drawing at an early age. As luck would have it, when Grelle was in high school two professional Western artists, James Boren and Melvin Warren, moved to town. Martin met Jim Boren when he was in high school and working part-time at his father’s gas station, and he was called to change a flat tire on James Boren’s automobile. Jim Boren became Grelle’s mentor, close friend, and as Grelle describes him, “a sort of second father.” With Boren’s guidance, Martin became more proficient in art while still in high school, and within a year of graduation Grelle had his first of no fewer than 30 one-man shows.
Grelle and his wife still live on a ranch just outside Clifton. His studio is located in the beautiful Meridian Creek Valley, not far from his home. His paintings are typically done in oil and are based on his personal knowledge of Plains Indian culture, historical accounts, and imagery and iconography from the period. Mountains are very often the backdrop for the scenes he paints. Says Grelle, “I have always been drawn to the mountains because of their grandeur. Whenever I paint people in a mountain or wilderness setting, I try to convey the larger-than-life effect that the landscape must have had on those individuals.” Beyond his personal work as an artist, Grelle believes he has a responsibility to share his God-given talent with others. Besides giving demonstrations around the country and mentoring other aspiring artists, for about a quarter century he and his fellow artistfriend Bruce Greene have together taught an annual weekend painting workshop.
More than two decades later, in 1995, the dream Grelle had harbored, since he met members James Boren and Melvin Warren, of being invited to join the Cowboy Artists of American, came true. Unfortunately his mentor, James Boren did not live to see that day. But, as Grelle says of Boren, “He’s still there with me.” No doubt James Boren would have been proud of Martin Grelle’s election to the Cowboy Artists of American, and prouder still that Grelle went on to serve as its president.
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