JOHN BALLOUE  Fine Art

Welcome
balloue-bio-photo

After returning home from Vietnam, I began taking art courses from the local Junior College. Forty years later it has become a business and a way of life.
Having a Cherokee father and a English/Irish mother and not being raised on a reservation, art is my way of understanding, keeping alive and honoring my Native Ancestors.
Painting in a realistic style for over 30 years, in 2003 I needed to try something new. I began experimenting with color and texture to create a more contemporary look and feel to my work.
Now much of my work is more innovative and experimental in nature. Color is the primary means in which the change has occurred. Color is said to be a barometer of emotion and the strong use of color is reflective of a passionate approach to painting. Besides it just looks cool!

Born 1948 in Richmond, California. Registered tribal member of the Western Band of Oklahoma Cherokee.
BA in art, California State University Hayward, 1975 (CSUEB)
John has achieved national acclaim and recognition for his work.

Highlights of some of his numerous awards are:
1992 Indian Arts and Crafts Association "Artist of the Year"
2001 Santa Fe Indian Market Poster Artist
2001 Cover Artist, Southwest Art Magazine, August Collectors Edition
Who's Who in the West, Marquis Publication, Providence, NJ
2007 Gene Autry Museum, best of class, (painting), Los Angeles, CA



EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS

2012 Indian Market, Gene Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2008 C.M. Russell Show, Great Falls, MT
2005 One Person Show, Waxlander Gallery Santa Fe, NM
2002 - 2013 Heard Museum Indian Market, Phoenix, AZ
2000 - 2013 Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM
1982 John F. Kennedy Center, Washington DC
1982, 1986 Cherokee National Museum, Tahlequah, OK
1978 Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA
1978 Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, OK

COMMISSIONS

Commission, 2017 Poster art California Indian Legal Services, 50th anniversary Ca.
Indian Days. Indian Gaming Magazine covers 2008-2017
2010 Los Gatos Art Museum, Los Gatos, CA - painted cat
2006 Santa Fe Indian Market live auction. Santa Fe, NM - painted chair
1996 - 2011 American Indian Alliance Pow Wow Calendar, Cover Artist
1995 Army Air Force Exchange Native American Cultural Month, Poster Artist, Dallas, TX
20th Annual American Indian Film Festival, Poster Artist, San Francisco, CA

BOOKS INCLUDED IN

Art of the Cherokee, Prehistory to the Present Susan Power, University of Georgia Press
The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters, Patrick Lester, University of Oklahoma Press
Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian 6th edition, Todd Publications, West Nyack, NY
The Native Americans, an Illustrated History, Turner Publishing, Atlanta, GA

PUBLISHED ILLUSTRATIONS

Dec 2011 April 2012
Alive East Bay Magazine, (Cover Art) Alamo, CA April 2012
Indian Trader Newspaper (Front Page) Gallup, NM 1992
S.O.A.R. Inc (CD Covers) Albuquerque, NM7
Sunshine Records (CD Cover) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 2003

Nov 2008, May 2009, Dec 2011, April 2012
Indian Gaming, (Cover Artist) Bellevue, WA Nov 2008 - May 2009

Indigena Fine Art Publishers LTD, (Posters & Limited Edition Prints) Tucson, AZ

People to Remember, Biography & Realistic Fiction
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA

Truthart Publisher, (Cherokee Heritage Calendar) Delaware, Ok
2005-2013.

Wintercount Fine Art and Publishing Company, (Note cards) New Castle, CO

Protectors of the Land (Cover Art) Richard Burrill The Anthro Company, Sacramento, CA

Southwest Art Magazine (Cover, Collectors Edition) Houston, TX 2001

(Work has been reproduced as Note Cards, T-shirts, Ceramic tiles, Cassettes & CD's Covers, Tote Bags, Gift Bags, Posters, Prints, Giclées and Calendars).