Artist Biography

Bernard Blake was born in Baltimore in 1919. Unable to afford college, he instead went to work in advertising as a copywriter and editor before being inducted into the U.S. Army in 1944. Following service, Bernard and his first wife set out on a cross-country road trip that landed them in the Bay Area of California where they settled and started a family.

Through his ascendant advertising career Bernard was able to learn from many artist and designer collaborators. He meanwhile began dabbling in his own artistic practice that included nature photography—much of this work published by the Sierra Club—and life drawing. Then, in 1967, Bernard had the unshakable epiphany that his life’s purpose lay not in advertising but in his art. 

He left his career to pursue this calling, continuing his visual art-making while also studying musique concrète and other synthesized music. Silkscreen, with its minimal approach and color potential, ultimately emerged as the medium most suited to Bernard’s creative needs. As for his subject, Bernard was interested in observing, capturing, and transforming the natural world as to access the emotional memory of the viewer and draw them deeper into nature’s beauty.

He went on to have his work shown in museums and galleries across the country and purchased by institutional buyers and private collectors alike. Then, in 1995, following years of progressive dementia, Bernard passed away. Left behind were his wife, Dorothy, two artist children, and an engrossing body of work that invites us to share Bernard’s ecstatic vision of the world that surrounds us.

This website was created in collaboration with Dorothy to preserve and share Bernard’s enduring work and legacy.