2024 Bosque Art Classic Judge

Martin Grelle, CA

Martin and Joyce Grelle

Within a year of graduating from Clifton High School, Martin Grelle exhibited in his first solo show.  In the 40-plus years since that time, he has produced more than 30 solo exhibitions including annual shows at Overland Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, from 1989 through 2014.  In October 2021 he notched another one-man show at Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale. 

Martin has won awards of both regional & national importance at shows around the country, including Gold Medal Oil at the 2023 Cowboy Artists of America show.  He was invited into membership with the CAA in 1995, fulfilling a dream that began in the early 70’s when he first met James Boren and Melvin Warren.  

Throughout his years of enriching the world of art with his excellence in painting, Grelle has also continued to be an inspiration to others, mentoring and encouraging artists in the tradition of early mentors Boren and Warren.  Among his many honors—which include being a three-time winner of the Prix de West Buyers’ Choice Award—he has received the Briscoe Museum’s Legacy Award for his impact on the world of western art, as well as the Booth Museum’s Artist of Excellence Award.  In 2021 the Texas Senate recognized Grelle’s lifelong contributions to the arts, hailing him as a “Texas treasure” whose work “is an enduring homage to the beauty of the Lone Star State.”