| Artist Bio: Craig Tennant, OPA (b. 1946) grew up in New Jersey and began his early art training in 1967 with Grey Advertising in New York. Starting in the mat room he quickly moved to mechanicals, then was made the Assistant Art Director for the Kool Aid account.
In 1970, he joined the staff of illustrators at BBD&O working on major accounts including Campbell’s Soup and Dodge Chrysler for national television ads. His magazine ad accounts consisted of Tarreyton, GE, Shaffer, and Pepsi (Generation).
For the next twenty years, Tennant illustrated on a freelance basis for clients including TV Guide, Mechanics Illustrated, Sports Illustrated, Yearly Reports, Field & Stream, Diet Coke, Mountain Dew, Old Milwaukee, and IBM. He was elected a member of the New York Society of Illustrators in 1980 and received their silver medal award in 1981.
In 1989, Tennant moved to Colorado to focus on western oil paintings. He started his own publishing business, Cheyenne Press, in 1994, to promote his work. The same year, he was voted 21st in the nation’s top print artists (by a U.S. Art Magazine survey of over 850 galleries nationwide.) In 1996 Tennant was commissioned by the Park Meadows Shopping Resort to paint a Colorado scene for the Nordstrom entrance.
He received juror’s recognition at the Artists in Colorado Exhibition, Denver 1997 and was a finalist in the Arts for the Parks competition in seven out of the last eight years. Tennant was voted a signature member of the Oil Painters of America, and in September 1999 was honored with their “Best of Show” award for the West/Southwest Regional Juried Show (open to 14 states). He received the Fredericksburg Award at the 2000 OPA National Juried Show, and the Neil Patterson Award at the 2001 OPA National Show. He was voted a Master Signature Member in January 2002 at the OPA annual director's meeting.
His work has appeared on the covers of Western Lifestyles, Wild West, The Equine Image, Rocky Mountain Rider, Colorado Country Life, Muzzleloader and Beef magazines. He has been the subject of additional feature articles in Western Horseman, Art of the West, Western Lifestyles, Southwest Art, American Cowboy, US Art, InformArt and others. Four of his Native American paintings are shown in Crabtree Publishing's Native Nations of North America series of children's books published in 2001.
Tennant was honored with the "People’s Choice Award" at the 2000 and 2001 Stampede Western Invitational Art Exhibit & Sale. He also received the "People’s Choice Award" at the 2001, 2002, and 2004 Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale held in Denver. He was voted 2005, 2006 and 2007 Featured Artist by The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. His oil paintings are sold from his Golden, CO studio to collectors on his private mailing list.
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