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 Pat Cranor is a California native now residing in the San Diego area. He stills
remembers the day he knew he wanted to become an artist. It just so happens to
be the same day he won his first art award in the sixth grade.
Riding an athletic scholarship to college, Pat turned more toward commercial
graphic design. Graduating from Idaho State University with a degree in Business
Marketing and a minor in Art, he niftily linked the two disciplines together,
moved back to Southern California and began a successful career as an
advertising agency art director.
When his computer executive wife took a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity in
Europe, Pat went along and offered his services as a freelance graphic designer
to various ad agencies in Belgium and Holland .
In 1987, Pat and his wife switched continents yet again, this time moving to
Japan . There it wasn’t long before Pat began painting the striking, colorful
and culture-clashing scenes he saw all around. Living in Osaka and Kobe for more
than five years, Pat developed a particular admiration for the wood block prints
of the Edo period. He was so influenced that he even developed his own similar
style of brushing layer upon layer of brilliantly vivid textured watercolors
evocative of the Japanese wood block print technique.
His early efforts in this style take a whimsically sardonic “foreigner’s” point
of view of a Japan rooted in tradition wrestling with the advancement of Western
technology. Then, with the birth of his son, Pat found himself drawn
increasingly to his innate love of patterns, and the influence of M.C. Escher.
Weaving these influences together gave him an imaginative approach to his
favorite of all subject matters: animals.
After returning to the United States, Pat took his warm and humorous “animals”
to the streets and into the greeting card market. His illustrated cards can be
found in gallery and gift shops across the country, from the Smithsonian in
Washington D. C., and the United Nations Center in New York to the San Diego Zoo
and the Long Beach aquarium, as well as many other stores and boutiques. In 1996
he started painting Kachinas after traveling through Colorado, where he
purchased his first Kachina doll and developed a great interest in the art and
traditions of Native Americans. With the turn of the Century, Pat went 180
degrees with his original Mixed Media on wood tiles that were influenced from his
graphic design background.
EDUCATION
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BBA Bachelor in Business Administration - Major in Marketing
and Minor in Fine Art, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho
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1980-1982 Advertising and Art Courses – The Art Center,
Pasadena, CA
EMPLOYMENT
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1979-1986 Art Director for various advertising agencies in
Orange County, CA
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1986-1987 Freelance Graphic Designer. Brussels, Belgium and
Amsterdam, Holland
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1987-1992 Art Director, International Advertising, Inc.
Osaka, Japan
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1992-1996 Freelance Graphic Designer. Sacramento, CA
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1996-present Self-employed Artist. San Diego, CA
ART SHOWS & GALLERIES
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1989
One Man Show. Tomachi Gallery, Osaka, Japan
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1990-1991 Represented by Naguchi Art Publishers, Osaka, Japan
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1996
Juried Artist Utah Arts Festival. Salt Lake City, Utah
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1996-Present Juried Artist Affaire in the Garden Art
Festival Beverly Hills, California
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1997-2001
Represented by Village Arts Press for a line of greeting cards
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1999-Present Represented by Curator’s
Collection for Princess Cruise Lines
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2002-Present Represented by Virtual Art
Solutions for Expo Design Centers
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1998 Member San Diego Watercolor Society
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1998-Present Juried member Spanish Village
Art Center, San Diego,California
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2001-Present Member San Diego Art Institute
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2002
Juried Artist Mountain Artists Rendezvous, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
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2003
Juried Artist Museum of Art. Bellevue, Washington
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2003
Joseph David Art Gallery, San Diego, California
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2005-2006
Juried Artist Art-a-Fair. Laguna Beach, California
AWARDS
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1984 Third Place. Package Design, Orange County
Advertising Federation
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1996,1999 Honorable Mention. Beverly Hills Affaire in the
Garden Art Festival
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