Pat Ryan and Dave Sheridan were two underground artists from an artist collective known as the ‘Artista Gang’ from the Emerald Triangle area of northern California. They released art collaborations under the name ‘California Homegrowers Association’. Together they created some really awesome cannabis brand parodies, spoofing the art style of the decals affixed to cigar boxes and produce crates. They were making this art decades before cannabis was decriminalized for medical and recreational use. Today it’s common place to see many cannabis brands with their own unique packaging, logos, and strain names, but these two visionaries (or at least just two fellow creatives with a sense of humor) were decades ahead of that. I suppose maybe it was like this quotable line from ‘Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie‘: “I figure it this way, dope’s going to be legal in a few years ya know, then, like, then I’ll be, it’ll be a legitimate job, and all these other dudes that aren’t ready for it, they won’t know how to do it, see, and then, like, I’ll have a job man.”
Dave Sheridan was also known for his work in underground comix. Pat Ryan, whom later released more cannabis themed parodies under the name ‘Pat Ryan’s High Again Designs’ for print and t-shirts, was also known for his poster art and Native American influenced artwork – some really impressive art inspired by the American Indian Movement and Occupation of Alcatraz, which I plan to soon discuss in depth in a future post. Pat Ryan also created legitimate cannabis branding for Mendocino based Martyjuana Farm.
Dave Sheridan passed away in 1982 and Pat Ryan passed away in 2022, but their legacy lives on in the artwork they created. You can use the Archive.org Wayback Machine to view the last/latest snapshot of Pat Ryan’s website here.
In the image slider below is a set of their artwork that I have scanned from my collection of prints. If you would like a set of the highest quality prints for yourself, the easiest and most comprehensive way to do that is to purchase Pat Ryan’s ‘Sinsemilla Sinsations: Cannabis-Inspired Art Spanning Four Decades: Postcards‘ while it is still available. For now, I have watermarked these images with copyright Pat Ryan. It is not my intention to take away from any potential royalties that may still be paid or due to their heir(s) from the proceeds of this book, so for now, sorry, but they are a bit obstructed. If at some point Pat Ryan’s book goes out of print and becomes difficult to obtain new, I will reconsider providing these scans without a watermark.
– CPX
Pat Ryan & Dave Sheridan
