Mario Martinez (painter) facts for kids

Mario Martinez (born in 1953) is a talented Native American artist. He creates amazing abstract paintings. He is a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, which is a Native American group. His family comes from New Penjamo, a small Yaqui settlement in Scottsdale, Arizona. Today, Mario Martinez lives and works in New York City.

Learning to Be an Artist

Mario Martinez studied art at two different universities. He earned his first degree, a bachelor's degree, from the School of Art at Arizona State University in Tempe. Later, he went on to get his master's degree (MFA) from the San Francisco Art Institute. This training helped him develop his unique artistic style.

Mario Martinez's Art Career

Mario Martinez's artwork has been shown in many important places. In 2005, a special show just for his art was held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in New York. This was a big honor!

His paintings have also been part of many group shows. For example, his work was featured in "Who Stole the Tee Pee?" at the National Museum of the American Indian. It was also shown at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York in 2010.

In 2002, Mario Martinez was invited to show his art in Japan. He was one of the first non-Japanese artists to exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in Saitama, Japan. This shows how well-known his art is around the world.

Mario Martinez has also shared his knowledge with others. In 2000, he was a visiting art professor at the University of Arizona. In 2001, he received a special fellowship from the National Museum of the American Indian. This allowed him to be an artist-in-residence there.

One of his big projects was a 22-foot mural. He created this large painting for the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2005. The mural is called Sonoran Desert: Yaqui Home. It was part of an exhibition about desert peoples.

Important Art Shows

Mario Martinez has had many exhibitions where people could see his art. Here are some of the notable ones:

• Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting (2019–21) at the National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center, New York.
• IN/SIGHT 2010, a group show of contemporary art by American Indian Artists, at the Chelsea Art Museum, New York, in 2010.
• New Tribe: New York: From Tradition to Transcendence, Mario Martinez Retrospective, a special show just for his work, at the National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center, New York City, in 2005.
• Contemporary Artists Federation group show at the Saitama Museum of Modern Art, Japan, in 2002.
• who stole the tepee? at the National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center, New York, in 2000.
• Mario Martinez: Visual Interpretations of Yaqui Myths and Legends at American Indian Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, in 1995.

Where His Art Lives

Mario Martinez's paintings are part of many important art collections. This means museums and foundations own his work. Some of these places include:

• The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian
• The Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona
• The Tucson Museum of Art
• The Snite Museum at the University of Notre Dame

Awards and Special Projects

Mario Martinez has received several awards and been part of unique projects:

• In 2007, he worked on a special print project for the Art in Embassies Program. This was with the National Museum of the American Indian and the U.S. State Department.
• He completed a large mural commission for the Heard Museum between 2003 and 2005.
• From 2001 to 2002, he was a Native Artist in Residence at the National Museum of the American Indian.
• In 2015, he was an invited artist for the Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship. He also had a residency at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in Florida that year.