Amado Peña

Amado Peña Jr. (born 1943 in Laredo, Texas) is a painter and master serigraph printmaker of Chicano and Yaqui heritage whose images of Native American and mestizo figures have become among the most widely recognized works in Southwestern popular culture. Working in bold graphic silhouettes against backgrounds in the warm earth tones of the desert — rust, ochre, turquoise, and bone — Peña creates images of quiet dignity and visual power that celebrate Indigenous and Chicano identity without sentimentality. He taught school in Laredo for many years before establishing himself fully as a studio artist. His prints have appeared in homes, offices, and galleries from Texas to California, and he has maintained studios in Santa Fe and Austin. A dedicated teacher and community figure, Peña has mentored generations of younger artists in the Southwest.