Riverside Art Museum Board of Trustees’ debut inaugural scholarship via Dollars for Scholars for a Greater Riverside High School graduate. RAM is excited to celebrate Klassic Taylor Willow as the first recipient of this scholarship.
Klassic Taylor Willow is a graduating senior from Valley View High School in Moreno Valley. With a 4.4 GPA, Klassic is an award-winning artist (second place in the Riverside County Fair art exhibition and honorable mention in the MVUSD art exhibition) who plans to study at CSUN. She is very involved in her school and active in Girls Against Violence and Circle of Friends. The Riverside Art Museum is proud to support Klassic in her pursuit of higher education!
Learn more about the RAM/Cheech Scholarship
The RAM/ Cheech Scholarship is intended to award $2,500 to a graduating senior to assist with college tuition. If awarded, the scholarship payment would be issued, upon proof of registration, to the university or college the graduating senior attends to be used toward tuition.
The Basic Criteria for the RAM/ Cheech Scholarship include: (1) minimum 2.5 g.p.a.; (2) committed to art or art-related study; (3) engaged w/ local art community (preferred); (4) from a community that is historically underrepresented in the arts (preferred); (5) have a portfolio of visual art (10-pages, if possible).
Please check back for updates on next year’s scholarship application.
Riverside, CA November 19, 2024 –
This past Tuesday, nearly 200 people gathered at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum to witness a historic moment: the unveiling of a bronze statue of Cheech Marin, created by Southern California artist Ignacio Gómez. With its outstretched arms, the statue welcomes visitors to The Cheech, embodying Marin’s passion for art and his lifelong advocacy for Chicano culture.
The ceremony was more than an unveiling—it was a celebration of legacy, community, and shared vision. Attendees also honored the late Ofelia Valdez-Yeager, whose tireless commitment brought this project to life. A community organizer and champion of Chicano culture, Valdez-Yeager’s vision inspired the campaign to fund the statue and sustain the programming at The Cheech.
Cheech Marin himself expressed deep gratitude during the event. Reflecting on the journey that brought his collection and this statue to Riverside, he said, “This statue is not just a reflection of my work, but of the incredible power of Chicano art to tell stories, challenge narratives, and bring us together. Riverside has become a home for this art, and I am so humbled to be part of this journey.”
Drew Oberjuerge, Executive Director of the Riverside Art Museum, shared her appreciation for the collaborative effort behind the statue. She highlighted artist Ignacio Gómez’s dedication, saying, “Through realizing Ofelia’s vision for this sculpture, I had the opportunity to get to know artist Ignacio Gómez better. I have a greater appreciation for his technique, his versatility, his long-standing body of work, and his deep respect for Cheech Marin and what he has done for Chicano art.”
Maria Esther Fernández, Artistic Director of The Cheech, spoke of the significance of the new addition. “The statue reflects the open arms and welcoming spirit that have come to define Cheech’s collection and his dedication to sharing Chicana/o/x art widely. It is that spirit that galvanized community members in support of creating this special center that represents the hope and vision for Chicana/o/x art in the American landscape,” she said.
For Ignacio Gómez, creating the statue was a deeply personal honor. “Cheech’s passion for art and culture radiates through his every endeavor. Capturing his spirit in bronze was an honor, and I hope this piece will inspire future generations to embrace and celebrate their roots,” he reflected.
The unveiling also marked the culmination of the “Meet Me at The Cheech” campaign, which raised vital funds for programming and exhibitions at the center. The campaign’s success was made possible by generous supporters, including JPMorganChase, Dr. Georgia Hill, Dwight Tate and Kathy Wright, UNIDOS for the La Causa, Inc., Latino Network, and Spanish Town Heritage Foundation.
As the crowd dispersed, many lingered to admire the statue, a new symbol of cultural pride standing at the gateway to The Cheech. For those who came to celebrate, it was clear that the sculpture was more than just a tribute to Marin—it was a testament to the power of art, the strength of community, and the enduring legacy of Chicano culture in Riverside and beyond.
Riverside, Calif – September 23, 2024 – Riverside Art Museum (RAM) announces its latest round of community-driven acquisitions accepted into The Cheech Center Collection, which showcase a national breadth of talent and a deep commitment to preserving and celebrating Chicana/o/x art. Works by Israel Alejandro García García of Kansas City, Missouri; Delilah Montoya of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Danie Cansino of Los Angeles, California; and Jimmy Peña of Corpus Christi, Texas add continuing perspectives on the ever-evolving narrative of Latinx art in America.
Israel Alejandro García García’s Mojado No. 1 mixed-media installation plays on the complexities of border politics and ‘documentation.’ García García’s work explores the immigrant experience, drawing from his practice of collecting images, objects and stories from underrepresented diasporic communities. His art bridges the personal and political, spotlighting the inevitable painful ties to the world’s borderlands of today.
Delilah Montoya’s Casta #3 from her Contemporary Casta Portraiture: Nuestra Calidad series reinterprets Spanish colonial casta paintings, critiquing their racial hierarchies. Montoya’s minimalist, light-filled photograph emphasizes the natural connections of a modern mixed-race family, inviting reflection on identity, race, and heritage. Her work offers a powerful reclaiming of cultural narratives, blending realism with symbolism to challenge historical constraints.
Danie Cansino’s Narciso reimagines Caravaggio’s Narcissus with a Chicano twist. The large painting shows a young man gazing at his reflection, adorned with tattoos. Cansino, an artist rooted in tattoo culture, uses Baroque techniques to elevate BIPOC bodies in grand, allegorical compositions, offering new subjects and narratives that challenge art historical norms and center Brown, tattooed figures.
Jimmy Peña’s large-scale charcoal drawings on wood—Communion, The Committee, and Fragmented State of Being—are known for their hyper-realistic style tinged with surrealism. Peña’s intricate works seem to bring figures to life from the wood’s grain, addressing contemporary social and political issues with detailed precision.
Since its opening in June 2022, through the generosity of donors, including a $100,000 matching grant from the Wingate Foundation, The Cheech has added nearly 100 works by about 40 artists to the Riverside Art Museum’s permanent collections. Spanning from 1920 to 2024, these works enhance the museum’s joint holdings and reflect RAM’s commitment to diversifying acquisitions equitably. The additions encompass a range of mediums, including sculpture, works on paper, paintings, and photographs while offering new regional perspectives and a focus on Chicana artists.
Notable women artists now represented include Barbara Carrasco, Yreina D. Cervántez, Ester Hernández, Judithe Hernández, Yolanda López, Delilah Montoya, and Patricia Rodriguez. Newly added works also feature artists Danie Cansino, Eduardo Carrillo, Rosy Cortez, Israel Alejandro García García, Rupert García, Stephanie García, Luis C. Garza, Ed Gómez, Jaime Guerrero, Gerardo Monterrubio, Jimmy Peña, Jesse E. Rodriguez, F. John Sierra, Denise Silva, Paul Valadez, and Perry Vásquez.
ABOUT RIVERSIDE ART MUSEUM + THE CHEECH: Since 1967, the Riverside Art Museum (3425 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501) has been housed in a 1929 building designed by Hearst Castle and AIA Gold Medal-winning architect Julia Morgan, registered on the National Register of Historic Places, and designated a Historic Landmark by the City of Riverside. Riverside Art Museum integrates art into the lives of people in a way that engages, inspires, and builds community by providing regionally focused exhibitions, programming, events, and arts education that instill a lifelong love of the arts.
Open since June 17, 2022, The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture aka “The Cheech” (3581 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501) resides in a renovated mid-century building that originally opened as the City of Riverside, California’s public library in 1964. Dedicated to showcasing Chicana/o/x art, honoring and exploring its continued social, cultural, and political impact, it’s the first cultural center of its kind. The Cheech is home to the unparalleled Cheech Marin Collection of Chicano art. It is a space for continued exhibition, scholarship, and dialogue of Chicano art’s deep roots in the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s to its contemporary and evolving response to current social conditions and global artistic movements.
ABOUT THE WINGATE FOUNDATION: The Wingate Foundation, established in 1998 by John H. Wingate, Jr., is a private foundation based in Riverside, California, dedicated to supporting arts and community initiatives in the Inland Empire. After John’s passing in 2012, his son Todd Wingate took over operations. The foundation’s recent grant recipients include The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, UC Riverside, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Inland Empire, and Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino Counties. The foundation’s $100,000 matching grant for artwork acquisitions at The Cheech aims to expand and diversify the collection.
(NEW YORK, NY – May 3, 2023) Today, four national funding partners, Alice L. Walton Foundation, Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and Pilot House Philanthropy announced the Leadership in Art Museums (LAM) initiative. Over the next five years, the LAM funders will commit over $11M in funding to museums to increase racial equity in leadership roles such as curators, conservators, collections managers, community engagement staff, educators and other senior leaders in a manner designed to advance racial equity.
As platforms for civic engagement, museums are vital public spaces. Intended to serve the communities around them, they play a critical role in fostering dialogue, creative expression, and community engagement and fortifying democratic principles. Museum leaders—from curators to board members—play a key role in determining the art on display in these cultural institutions. A 2019 study found that only 1.2% of works in all major U.S. museums were created by Black artists, with 9% for Asian artists and only 2.8% for Hispanic and Latinx artists.
With an expanded group of funding partners, LAM will build on past and existing efforts to create more racial equity in leadership roles across the art museum field. In addition to welcoming new partners—Pilot House Philanthropy and the Mellon Foundation—LAM is bolstered by the learnings from and impact of recent key initiatives; these include the Diversifying Art Museum Leadership (DAMLI) project, the recently created Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums, and related initiatives like the Mellon Foundation’s ongoing Art Museum Staff Demographic Survey to increase diversity in museums. Mellon’s recent research and surveys found significant underrepresentation of Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Arab, Asian, Pacific Islander, and other people of color in institutional leadership positions. For example: only 20% of museum leadership and 20% of conservation staff identified as non-white. While hiring trends from 2021 and 2022 show slow and steady progress, leadership museum roles are still overwhelmingly held by white staff.
“Ultimately, the future of museums depends on their ability to stay relevant and serve their communities,” said Alice Walton, philanthropist and founder of Alice L. Walton Foundation. “The LAM museums represent a variety of regions across the U.S., and help ensure that we’re increasing access to museum roles in a way that’s inclusive of communities of color, no matter where the art institution is based. With this dedicated group of funding partners, we’re united in our commitment to achieve long-lasting impact.”
“If we want the arts in this country to stay vibrant, moving, and transformational, it’s imperative that these institutions bring in more diverse perspectives and lived experiences,” said Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. “Leadership in Arts Museum’s vision is to grow and invest in diverse leadership at U.S. art museums to ensure their excellence and relevance in the future.”
A competitive and thorough selection process identified 19 museums across the country for LAM grants to create and sustain new leadership positions. The museums have pledged to make these permanent. In hiring for these positions, the museums also pledge to develop a diverse pool of applicants in a manner that is inclusive of communities of color, including Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Arab, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities.
“Some of our proudest work recognizes and elevates the role of arts and culture within Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities to heal, protect, and restore mental and physical health—not only at the individual level, but also at the community and systems level,” said Joël Barraquiel Tan, executive director at Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum. “With this additional support, we can bring in more staff, develop programming in a vibrant, holistic model, and provide training for emerging staff and interns that advances our internal culture of health and wellbeing.”
“Our new Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole curator position, named in honor of the Jacksonville native and internationally regarded educator, scholar, and cultural leader, will help us realize Ninah Cummer’s vision that the museum be a center of beauty for all,” said Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Ph.D., director and CEO at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Florida. “With the LAM support, we are on course to expand our audiences and invite more visitors to explore and engage with our collections, gardens, and programs.”
The LAM recipients are diverse institutions with local and national impact spanning geography, size, and cultural focus. As a shared goal, they are fully committed to developing and nurturing museums’ leadership roles that will demonstrate and create a more inclusive art world.
The 2023 LAM museums receiving these awards are:
Arizona State University Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville, Florida
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan
MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, Mississippi
Museum of the City of New York, New York, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
The Newark Museum of Art, Newark, New Jersey
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
Perez Art Museum Miami, Florida
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Seattle, Washington
RIVERSIDE, Calif.—The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced today that the Riverside Art Museum is among 30 finalists for the 2023 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The Riverside Art Museum is one of six institutions in California—and the only one from the Inland Empire—to be selected as a finalist for this award.
The National Medal is the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries that demonstrate significant impact in their communities. For more than 25 years, the award has honored institutions that demonstrate excellence in service to their communities.
“This nomination recognizes the collective work of our entire organization—staff, trustees—with community partners, Cheech Marin, and the City of Riverside to innovate our programs to better serve our community, resulting in program innovations and the establishment of the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture of the Riverside Art Museum which opened in June 2022 to unprecedented number of visitors,” said Riverside Art Museum Executive Director Drew Oberjuerge.
“So many museums and libraries across the country are committed to providing programs that are vital to the health and growth of engaged communities. We are very proud to announce the 30 finalists for this year’s IMLS National Medal,” said IMLS Director Crosby Kemper. “These institutions represent the best of what museums and libraries do for their communities.”
To celebrate this honor, IMLS is encouraging Riverside Art Museum’s community members to share stories, memories, pictures, and videos on social media using the hashtags #ShareYourStory and #IMLSmedals, and engage with IMLS on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For more information, please visit the IMLS website.
National Medal winners will be announced in late May. Representatives from winning institutions will be honored for their extraordinary contributions during an in-person National Medals Ceremony this summer.
To see the full list of finalists and learn more about the National Medal, visit the IMLS website.
About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Our vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Cheech Marin and Riverside Elected Officials Celebrate Opening of The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture
Comedian/Art Collector Marin ready to share his passion for Chicano art with the world
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (June 16, 2022) — It is time to welcome a glimmering jewel in the world of Chicano art.
That was the message from those who gathered Thursday at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum for a dedication ceremony of the long-anticipated center in downtown Riverside that will house, by all estimates, the finest collection of Chicano art anywhere in the world.
The guest of honor himself, Cheech Marin, said the center represents a major step forward in his decade-long mission to bring Chicano art to the forefront of the art world.
“My motto has always been that you can’t love or hate Chicano art unless you see it,” said Marin who received a key to the city from Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson. “And now people will have a place to always see it. This is such a happy and humbling moment for me.”
The center, affectionately known as The Cheech, opens to the public on Saturday. It is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and tickets can be purchased on-site or in advance.
Dozens of people—including reporters, lawmakers, business owners, art lovers and community members—cheered as Marin unveiled a commemorative plaque and officially dedicated his new home for 500-plus works of Chicano art, including paintings, sculptures, and photography.
The Cheech is the result of a public-private partnership between the Riverside Art Museum, the City of Riverside, and Marin, who has spent the last 40 years collecting the work of notable Chicano artists like Carlos Almaraz, Margaret Garcia, Wayne Alaniz Healy, Judithe Hernández, Frank Romero, and Patssi Valdez.
During the event, Artistic Director of The Cheech María Esther Fernández, said that one of the center’s goals is to deepen the visitors’ understanding of Chicana/o/x art through exciting and innovative exhibition and education programming.
Fernández said “visitors will make their own connections with the work and be able to better understand themselves, their community, and the world.” For Fernández, one of the most important aspects of The Cheech is that “it will be a dynamic space for intergenerational dialogue and exchange.”
Also speaking at the dedication were the Riverside Art Museum’s Executive Director Drew Oberjuerge and Mayor Lock Dawson who said the new center represents another major step in the City’s mission to celebrate diversity and education.
“The Cheech not only will give visitors another reason to visit Riverside, the City of Arts and Innovation, but also serve as an epicenter for us to connect with each another, celebrate our diversity and creativity, and provide space for education and reflection,” Lock Dawson said. “I encourage everyone to visit our historic downtown and see for themselves the majesty of The Cheech.”
Oberjuerge said The Cheech could not have happened without the dedication of RAM board and staff who partnered with city leaders, community groups, grassroots organizations, and Marin himself to make the center a reality. Plus, the new center will broaden the Riverside Art Museum’s mission and commitment to serve its diverse community.
“The Cheech will foster our learning about new curatorial and collections management practices to further our pursuit of promoting equity and inclusion in the art world,” Oberjuerge said. “The Cheech is a reflection of how museums across the nation are transforming to better serve our communities.”
After the dedication ceremony, attendees toured the 61,420-square-foot center, which itself is a marvel.
Los Angeles-based architects Page & Turnbull worked with museum architects WHY to convert a 1964 mid-century library into a modern museum and cultural center. While preserving the historic and vintage aspects of the original building, such as the exposed brick walls, the stainless-steel framework, and aluminum stair railings with restored decorative polyester panels, The Cheech represents something entirely new both inside and out.
“Interventions are thoughtfully integrated to celebrate both the building’s historic character and its transformation to a world-class art center,” said Page & Turnbull Manager and Principal Architect John Lesak. “It’s an inspiring idea and a model for other cities and cultural groups to revive underused architectural gems.”
One of the most striking features of the space is the visual connection between the galleries, which are centered around a permanent installation of a 26-foot-tall lenticular piece by brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre. The dynamic installation, which changes as the viewer moves from side to side, is designed to generate a central source of energy for The Cheech, encouraging visitors to explore the different galleries both above and below. Accessed by a restored mid-century stairway, the second-floor features exhibition art galleries, a multi-purpose space, a film screening room, staff offices, and an artist-in-residency studio/education center where visitors can witness the next generation of Chicano art as it emerges.
WHY founder and Creative Director Kulapat Yantrasast said he was struck by the lack of representation and focus in other venues for Chicano artists, their work, and their culture.
“When the architect selection process started, we threw our hat in the ring with full force,” he said. “We wanted to make this venue and its experience a reality. I could not be prouder of this new cultural epicenter.”
Museum designers and architects aren’t the only ones excited about the opening. More than 100,000 people are expected to visit the center every year with the first wave arriving this Saturday during a sold-out opening day.
Whenever they arrive, the first visitors to the center will be treated to two major exhibitions: Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective featuring more than 70 mixed-media works, and Cheech Collects, which weaves a story of Cheech Marin’s 40-year journey as an art collector.
For Cheech, the center is a dream come true.
“We’ve put so much work into this center, and I can’t believe it’s finally here,” Marin said. “I’m so excited to share my passion with the rest of the world. There’s something in here for everyone.”
Tickets for opening day on June 18 are sold out, but admission for other dates to the Riverside Art Museum and The Cheech can be purchased at www.riversideartmuseum.org.
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About RAM: RAM is one museum with two locations: the Riverside Art Museum, housed in a National Historic 1929 building designed by Hearst Castle and AIA Gold Medal-winning architect Julia Morgan, and The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, slated to open June 18, 2022, just one block away in downtown Riverside, the “City of Arts & Innovation”. RAM integrates art into the lives of people in a way that engages, inspires, and builds community by providing high quality exhibits and art education programs that instill a lifelong love of the arts. A 60-plus-year-old, non-profit cultural arts institution, RAM strives to be a distinguished, yet accessible institution that serves as a cultural, collaborative, and educational focal point for our diverse community. For more information about RAM, visit www.riversideartmuseum.org. Find the Riverside Art Museum on Facebook (www.facebook.com/riversideartmuseum), Twitter (@RAMRiverside), and Instagram (@riversideartmuseum). Find The Cheech on Facebook (www.facebook.com/thecheechcenter), Twitter (@thecheechcenter), and Instagram (@thecheechcenter).
The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture is First Stop for Nationally Touring Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective
Riverside, CA (June 9, 2022) – The Riverside Art Museum is partnering with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino on a seven-month-long exhibition that explores over 30 years of artistic production by internationally acclaimed artist duo Einar and Jamex de la Torre.
Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective premieres at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, affectionately known as The Cheech, on the center’s grand opening on June 18, 2022, and will run through January 22, 2023. Guest curated by Selene Preciado, the exhibition features more than 70 mixed-media works, including blown-glass sculptures and installation art, plus some of the artists’ latest lenticulars with imagery that changes as the viewer moves from side to side.
This exhibition was made possible by a partnership between the Riverside Art Museum and the National Museum of the American Latino. When Collidoscope wraps up in Riverside early next year, it will embark on a national tour managed by CauseConnect. Confirmed venues to date include the Corning Museum of Glass, Crocker Art Museum, and the Art Museum of South Texas.
María Esther Fernández, who is The Cheech’s artistic director, said the de la Torre brothers are a natural fit for the center: “We are thrilled to showcase the de la Torre brothers’ innovative work and how it has come together under Selene Preciado’s thoughtful curatorial vision.” The de la Torre brothers are no strangers to The Cheech. In fact, they are the artists behind the center’s first commissioned art installation: a 26-foot-tall lenticular that stretches from the ground floor to the second story.
Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, and now living both in San Diego and Baja California, the brothers have navigated life on both sides of the border since they were young and have inherited their own unique vision of the Latinx experience and American culture. Their work is visually complex and infused with humorous elements exploring art, history, and material culture. Working with glass, resin, lenticular prints and found objects, the brothers create work inspired by Mexican folk art, popular culture, religious imagery, consumer culture, and mythology. Many elements of the exhibition, including the title and curatorial framework, try to echo the creative process of the artists, serving as an allegory of their intellectual pursuits, their technical use of materials and media, and their use of wordplay and poetic riddles.
“The title of the exhibition mirrors the artists’ use of wordplay, alluding to the kaleidoscope-like quality of their works and the collision of imagery, themes, and references that comprise their artistic language,” said guest curator Selene Preciado. “The artists use critique layered with humor as a tool to unpack the tensions and contradictions of our postcolonial transcultural identity.”
Einar de la Torre said he and his brother don’t exactly consider themselves glass artists but treat glass as one component in their three-dimensional collages. The result, he said, speaks volumes about the Latino experience in America.
“The complexities of the immigrant experience and contradicting bicultural identities, as well as our current life and practice on both sides of the border, really propel our narrative and aesthetics,” he said. “We are truly honored to showcase our work at this historically significant center for Chicano art.”
Historic indeed. The Cheech is one of the nation’s first permanent spaces dedicated to showcasing Chicano art and culture. Visitors to The Cheech will have an opportunity to view paintings, drawings, sculptures and other works by some of the most respected Chicano artists in the world, people like Carlos Almaraz, Margaret Garcia, Wayne Alaniz Healy, Judithe Hernández, Frank Romero, and Patssi Valdez. The work is gifted from Marin, a third-generation Mexican-American comedian, filmmaker, actor, and art advocate who has spent the past four decades collecting Chicano art, including work by the de la Torre brothers.
Although the physical space for the National Museum of the American Latino is still in development, Smithsonian staff are working on virtual exhibitions and programs to assist in planning and fundraising. They are opening a preview exhibition in the museum’s Molina Family Latino Gallery—located in the National Museum of American History. This first exhibition kicks off June 18—the same day as the grand opening of The Cheech—with ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States, which tells US history from the perspectives of the diverse Latinas and Latinos who lived it.
The openings of The Cheech and the Molina Family Latino Gallery are indicative of a larger movement to commemorate the culture and contributions of Latinos.
Eduardo Díaz, deputy director of the National Museum of the American Latino, said there is plenty to be excited about as two centers dedicated to Latino culture and education open on opposite ends of the nation, helping ensure that the Latino story is presented as an integral and important part of the American story.
“Collaborating with The Cheech allows us to extend the presence of the National Museum of the American Latino beyond the DC Beltway,” Díaz said. “And where better than California’s Inland Empire to emphasize the museum’s true national impact and importance?”
Tickets for opening day of June 18 are sold out, but admission for other dates to the Riverside Art Museum and The Cheech can be purchased at www.riversideartmuseum.org.
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About RAM and The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture: RAM is one museum with two locations: the Riverside Art Museum and The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, slated to open June 18, 2022, in downtown Riverside, the “City of Arts & Innovation”. RAM integrates art into the lives of people in a way that engages, inspires, and builds community by providing high quality exhibitions and art education programs that instill a lifelong love of the arts. RAM’s desire to further engage and serve the community was the impetus to create The Cheech, a public-private partnership between RAM, the City of Riverside, and comedian Cheech Marin—one of the world’s foremost collectors of Chicano art. Marin’s gift of approximately 500 works by Chicana/o/x artists— including the likes of Carlos Almaraz, Judithe Hernández, Gilbert “Magú” Luján, Sandy Rodriguez, Frank Romero, and Patssi Valdez—to RAM’s permanent collection makes the collection a repository for one of the largest holdings of Chicana/o/x art by a non-ethnic specific contemporary art museum. The Cheech is dedicated to showcasing Chicana/o/x art and honoring and exploring its continued social, cultural, and political impact through a comprehensive exhibitions program of the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions organized at the center, as well as nationally touring exhibitions that align with the center’s vision. The Cheech will work collaboratively with community partners to present thought-provoking educational programming that explores the complexity of Chicana/o/x culture not only through the visual arts, but in both music and film as well, recognizing that this art is evolving and expanding its definitions and parameters in response to current social conditions and in conversation with global artistic movements. For information about The Cheech, visit www.thecheechcenter.org. Find The Cheech on Facebook (www.facebook.com/thecheechcenter), Twitter (@thecheechcenter), and Instagram (@thecheechcenter).
About Cheech Marin: Cheech Marin is recognized today as a preeminent Chicano art advocate. In the mid-1980s, he began developing what is now arguably the finest private collection of Chicano art. In addition to artwork loans to numerous institutions, this notable collection has been featured in over a dozen exhibitions produced and shown at more than 50 museums in the U.S. and Europe to date, including the Smithsonian, LACMA, and the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Comprised of mostly paintings, followed by drawings, prints, and mixed-media artworks, sculptures and photography, his collection is the foundation of The Cheech. His goal for The Cheech for it to be THE premier center of Chicano art … locally connected, regionally based, nationally relevant, and internationally renowned.
About the National Museum of the American Latino: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino advances the representation, understanding and appreciation of Latino history and culture in the United States. The museum provides financial resources and collaborates with other museums to expand scholarly research, public programs, digital content, collections and more. The museum’s Molina Family Latino Gallery will be the Smithsonian’s first gallery dedicated to the Latino experience. The legislation creating the National Museum of the American Latino at the Smithsonian passed Dec. 27, 2020. Connect with the museum at latino.si.edu, and follow @USLatinoMuseum on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About the de la Torre Brothers: Collaborating artists and brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre were born in Guadalajara, México (1963 and 1960, respectively) where they grew up until their family moved to California in 1972. They both studied at California State University at Long Beach and taught at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. Currently, the brothers live and work on both sides of the border (Ensenada, Baja California, México and San Diego, California). Since the mid-1990s, the brothers have collaborated in earnest and worked together to develop their signature style of mixed-media work with blown-glass sculpture and lenticular printing. Their pieces represent a multifaceted view of life that reflects a complex and humorous aesthetic that could be seen as baroque. Influences range from religious iconography to German expressionism while also paying homage to Mexican vernacular arts and pre-Columbian art. To date they have had 18 solo museum exhibitions in six different countries, completed eight major public art projects and have participated in four biennales. Their work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the Cheech Marin Collection and they are recipients of the USA Fellowship Award, the San Diego Art Prize, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, among other honors. The de la Torre brothers are represented by Koplin Del Rio Gallery in Seattle, Washington. To learn more, visit www.delatorrebrothers.art.
About Selene Preciado: A Los Angeles-based independent curator, Selene Preciado has worked at the Getty Foundation since 2015. Preciado’s research interests include contemporary art and post-1960s conceptualist vanguards such as feminist art and performance art, with a special focus on Latin American art and its diaspora in the United States. Past curatorial projects include “Ser todo es ser parte/To be Whole is to be Part,” Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (2020); “Customizing Language,” the inaugural exhibition of the Emerging Curators Program at LACE, co-curated with Idurre Alonso (2016); “José Montoya’s Abundant Harvest: Works on Paper/Works on Life,” Fowler Museum at UCLA, co-curated with Richard Montoya (2016); “In Search of an Exit (or Eight Characters in a Parlor),” Heritage Square Museum, co-curated with the USC MA Class of 2015 (2015); “MIXTAPE” (2013); and “Anywhere Better than this Place” (2012) at MOLAA. Prior to her current post, she worked as a curatorial research assistant at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), in 2013–2015. She worked at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) from 2009 to 2013 as an assistant curator. From 2005 to 2008, she worked as an exhibitions assistant at Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT), as a curatorial assistant at the San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA), and an exhibition coordinator for inSite_05. Preciado obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Art from the University of California, San Diego, and holds a Master of Arts in Art and Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere from the University of Southern California. Her master’s thesis examined the first years of production of feminist Mexican artist Mónica Mayer.
Cheech Collects installation is in full swing for opening day on June 18
Riverside, CA (June 1, 2022) – One of the nation’s first permanent spaces dedicated to showcasing Chicano art and culture is coming together quickly with the June 18 grand opening within sight. And when the doors open, visitors to The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum in Southern California will be treated to the center’s first exhibition, Cheech Collects, which weaves a story of Cheech Marin’s 40-year journey as an art collector.
Cheech Collects features works by some of the most respected Chicana/o/x artists in the world co-curated by the center’s Artistic Director, María Esther Fernández, and Todd Wingate, the Riverside Art Museum’s Director of Exhibitions and Collections. More than 40 artists are included, many of whom are pioneers, trailblazers, and rule-breakers like Carlos Almaraz, Margaret Garcia, Wayne Alaniz Healy, Judithe Hernández, Frank Romero, and Patssi Valdez.
For Marin, the exhibition is a dream come true.
“These artists channeled their creativity into bold and innovative, aesthetically complex statements,” Marin said. “Not only are these works beautiful and complex, but they also raise visibility for social justice issues, and shape our popular, political, and cultural consciousness.”
The inaugural exhibition, which runs through December 2022, features nearly 100 works from Marin’s generous gift to the Riverside Art Museum as well as from his personal collection. It includes iconic works that have toured in Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge, among other notable exhibitions, as well as some that will be on view for the first time. A second iteration of the inaugural exhibition will open in January 2023.
Like Marin himself, many of the artists featured in Cheech Collects have strong roots in the Los Angeles area, while others come from places like San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas. Regardless of their hometowns, many are considered game-changers in the world of Chicano art. Indeed, when the moniker “Chicano” was born some four decades ago amid the turmoil and social unrest of America’s 1960s civil rights movements, some of these artists were already emerging as advocates for change.
Patssi Valdez grew up in East Los Angeles as a multimedia artist and cofounder of the seminal Chicano artist collective called Asco (active from 1972 to 1987), which responded specifically to socioeconomic and political problems surrounding the Chicano community in the U.S, as well as the Vietnam War. Some of her work, including her stunning 1993 acrylic painting “Room on the Verge” will be featured in Cheech Collects.
The show will also feature the work of Frank Romero, one of L.A.’s most iconic artists, who was born in East Los Angeles in 1941. He is a founding member of the Los Four art collective whose work in the 1974 exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was acclaimed as one of the first ever Chicano art shows at a mainstream museum. Guests to The Cheech will see several works including his 1996 painting “The Arrest of the Paleteros,” which illustrates “paleteros” or ice-cream vendors, being arrested in Echo Park for not having permits.
The work of another member of the Los Four art collective will also be on display. That work belongs to Judithe Hernández, who was among the first Chicana artists to break through the mainstream museum barrier. The Los Angeles-based artist first gained recognition as a muralist and is now widely known for her works in pastel of archetypal, mythical female figures. The Cheech will feature her 2017 masterpiece “Juarez Quinceañera,” which depicts the atrocities of the Ciudad Juarez femicides.
Also joining the show is Wayne Alaniz Healy, a founding member of the East Los Streetscapers, one of the first groups of artists to begin the muralist movement in the 1970s. His 1991 acrylic painting “Una Tarde en Meoqui (An Afternoon in Meoqui)” will be featured in Cheech Collects. There’s also Margaret Garcia who began her career as a muralist and was involved in the murals that swept through the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The exhibition will highlight her 2000 oil painting “Janine at 39, Mother of Twins.” Two of many Marin favorites, both paintings never left his home after they returned from the nationally touring Chicano Visions exhibition.
The Cheech, as it’s affectionately called, is the result of a public-private partnership between the Riverside Art Museum, the City of Riverside, and Marin, who pulled together what is arguably the finest private collection of Chicano art.
“This collection of work not only weaves a narrative of Marin’s 40-year career as a collector but also explores its art historical significance,” said Artistic Director of The Cheech, María Esther Fernández. “This inaugural exhibition, coupled with our entire collection, represents a massive step forward in our pursuit of shaping the art world’s perceptions and understanding of Chicanx art.”
Other artists featured in this inaugural exhibition include the late Carlos Almaraz who was a leading member of the Chicano arts movement in Los Angeles in the 1970s and ’80s, producing banners for rallies in support of Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers labor union. Look for works by: Gilbert “Magú” Luján, a painter, muralist, and sculptor who was among the first U.S. artists of Mexican descent to establish an international career; Glugio “Gronk” Nicandro, a painter, printmaker, and performance artist who was also a founding member of the LA-based arts collective Asco; and Sandy Rodriguez, whose work investigates the methods and materials of painting across cultures and histories.
The doors to The Cheech haven’t opened yet, but some of the new work is already turning heads.
Brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre, who hail from Guadalajara, Mexico, but now live and work on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, just finished installation of a 26-foot lenticular artwork that will greet visitors as they enter the front door of the center. Seventy artworks by the de la Torre brothers are also featured in The Cheech’s inaugural temporary exhibition. Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective premieres at The Cheech on opening day and after closing on January 22, 2023, it will embark on a national tour supported by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino.
Tickets for opening day on June 18 are sold out, but admission for other dates to the Riverside Art Museum and The Cheech can be purchased at www.riversideartmuseum.org.
The two-story lenticular work will be front and center for visitors entering the center.
RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA (April 26, 2022) — When visitors enter the doors to the new Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture in downtown Riverside, they will come face to face with a towering Aztec earth goddess with a special message about how to save the planet.
Although the center won’t open for another two months, installation is underway on the lenticular artwork by brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre that stretches 26 feet from the ground floor to the second-level balcony. The yet-untitled large-scale installation based on Aztec earth goddess Coatlicue is a commissioned artwork for The Cheech and will greet visitors as they enter the center.
“This piece is going to turn some heads,” said Einar. “There is a myriad of ‘Easter eggs’ to find as you move and take a closer look from the perspective of both floors.”
The image shows the goddess rising from the earth, made of flora and fauna textures, which can be interpreted as a defense of mother nature. As viewers move laterally in front of the large LED backlit lenticular, the image of the goddess changes to a Transformer-like robot made of lowrider cars. A closer look at the work reveals more details. There are solar panels and windmills dotting the background map, going from East Los Angeles to Riverside.
Jamex said the message is clear: “We see her beckoning us back to a simpler life, using less resources and eventually living in harmony with nature,” he said. “We see technology as the only way out of the global warming debacle. So, this ‘Transformer’ is the empowering image of the future scientists coming up with creative ways to deal with the rising global temperatures.”
The vivid, ever-changing installation pays homage to its new home and points to the complexities of the often overlooked and misunderstood Inland Empire, which is now the fourth largest Latino metro region in the area. As the viewer moves around the piece, many Inland Empire-centric images and themes begin to emerge, including the area’s long history with the rail industry, its car culture, its network of freeways that are integral to the nation’s logistics industry, and its bounty of native plants and flowers that speak to growing environmental justice efforts. A map of Riverside is also visible upon closer inspection.
The de la Torre brothers are a natural fit for The Cheech. Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, and now living in San Diego, California, the brothers have navigated life on both sides of the border since they were very young and have inherited their own unique vision of the Latino experience and American culture. Their work draws from traditional Mexican folk art, pop culture, and religious imagery and mythology.
The Cheech, which is inside a mid-century building next to the historic Mission Inn Hotel, is the result of a public-private partnership between the Riverside Art Museum, Cheech Marin, and the City of Riverside, the “City of Arts & Innovation.”
Opening June 18, 2022, the center is expected to welcome more than 100,000 guests annually to explore exhibitions and engage in educational opportunities. The center will initially house nearly 500 paintings, drawings, and sculptures gifted from Marin, the third-generation Mexican American and film and TV actor who has been collecting Chicano art for four decades, including the work of the de la Torre brothers.
“When I saw the initial renderings created by the brothers, I couldn’t wait to see the real thing as I knew it would be much more than I ever expected, and it is,” Marin said.
The de la Torre brothers will also be featured as part of the center’s first temporary exhibit, Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective, which is being organized by the Riverside Art Museum in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino. Curated by Selene Preciado, the exhibition encompasses almost three decades of work by the de la Torre brothers and features more than 70 mixed-media works, including blown-glass sculptures and installation art, plus some of the artist duo’s latest lenticular artwork.
Tickets for June 19 through August 31, 2022 can be purchased here.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Advanced tickets are now on sale to visit the highly anticipated Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, known as “The Cheech”, opening June 18, 2022, a public-private partnership between the Riverside Art Museum (RAM), Cheech Marin, and the City of Riverside, the “City of Arts & Innovation.” The Cheech boasts an impressive collection of Chicano art gifted to RAM by renowned comedian and Chicano art collector Cheech Marin.
While opening day is sold out, tickets to visit The Cheech between June 19, 2022, and August 31, 2022, can be purchased now on the RAM website. Admission is $15.95 for adults and $10.95 for seniors, educators, college students, and children ages 13-17. Ticket prices include access to both The Cheech and the Riverside Art Museum. RAM offers free admission to children under 12, RAM members, and military personnel. Discounted admission of $1 is available to those who present an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card and accompanying identification as part of the Museums for All program. RAM also partners with Bank of America, Voices for Children, and Big Brother Big Sisters of the Inland Empire to offer free or discounted admission to qualified participants.
The 61,420-square-foot center will house hundreds of paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures by artists including Carlos Almaraz, Judithe Hernández, Gilbert “Magú” Luján, Sandy Rodriguez, Frank Romero, Patssi Valdez, and the de la Torre brothers, Einar and Jamex.
“After five years of incredible community effort, RAM is pleased to announce that it’s finally time in the words of Cheech Marin to ‘meet at The Cheech!’” said Riverside Art Museum Executive Director Drew Oberjuerge.
“Chicano art is a distinct, evolving art form from artists with a unique perspective of life in the US that will speak to the souls who see it, be they Chicanos or Latinos, art aficionados, or the culturally curious.”
Beginning June 19, the Riverside Art Museum and The Cheech will be open Monday through Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. with extended hours on Thursdays through 8 p.m. The Cheech is located at 3581 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92501, on the corner of Mission Inn Avenue and Orange Street. The Riverside Art Museum is located at 3425 Mission Inn Avenue, on the corner of Mission Inn Avenue and Lime Street. Metered street and lot parking is available along Mission Inn Avenue. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit riversideartmuseum.org/get-tickets.
In the News
June 7, 2022: https://www.travelmag.com/articles/exhibitions-california-summer-2022/
June 6, 2022: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/knx-in-depth-la-hosts-summit-of-the-americas/id1423814166?i=1000565434550
March 20, 2022: https://robbreport.com/shelter/art-collectibles/two-museums-expand-in-california-to-celebrate-latin-american-art-1234668627/
March 4, 2022: https://www.pe.com/2022/03/04/los-lobos-to-play-benefit-concert-for-the-cheech-museum-in-riverside/
January 30, 2022: https://www.pe.com/2022/01/30/how-riversides-ywca-hired-julia-morgan-and-defied-mission-inn/
November 9, 2021: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/cheech-marin-center-riverside-preview-1234609366/
October 11, 2021: https://www.pe.com/2021/10/11/riverside-art-museum-to-show-work-from-artist-sonya-fe/
September 3, 2021: https://www.pe.com/2021/09/03/riverside-art-museum-wins-50000-grant-for-artist-in-residence-work/
August 6, 2021: https://www.kpbs.org/news/2021/aug/06/cheech/
July 13, 2021: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-07-13/cheech-marin-center-chicano-art-director-maria-esther-fernandez
July 2, 2021: https://www.pe.com/2021/07/02/typewriters-are-stars-of-new-riverside-art-museum-exhibit/
RIVERSIDE, CA (April 1, 2022)—Chicano roots-rockers Los Lobos will headline a benefit concert on May 7 for the new Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, known as “The Cheech,” in downtown Riverside, the City of Arts & Innovation. The show, presented by Hot 103.9 and Katy 101.3, celebrates the approaching grand opening of The Cheech on June 18, 2022.
The benefit concert begins at 6 p.m. at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium, 3485 Mission Inn Avenue, a few doors down from The Cheech. East LA rock band Quetzal will be the opening act, and Marin himself will be making a special appearance. Tickets start at $32 and are now on sale through Live Nation with all proceeds going to The Cheech.
The Cheech is the result of a public-private partnership between the Riverside Art Museum, Cheech Marin, and the City of Riverside.
When it opens on Saturday, June 18, The Cheech is expected to be the nation’s premier center for Chicano art and culture, welcoming more than 100,000 guests annually to explore exhibitions and engage in educational opportunities. The center will house nearly 500 paintings, drawings, and sculptures gifted from renowned comedian, philanthropist, and Chicano art collector Cheech Marin.
“We are going to make Riverside the center of Chicano art in the world,” Marin said. “And we’re going to bring the world to Riverside. Who better to celebrate this with than the best Chicano band in the world, Los Lobos?”
Over the last five decades, the East L.A.-bred band Los Lobos has made an indelible mark on music history by exploring an enormous diversity of genres—rock-and-roll and R&B, surf music and soul, mariachi and música norteña, punk rock and country—and building a boldly unpredictable sound all their own. The band released their most recent album, Native Sons, in July 2021.
Chicano art has roots in the Chicano Movement of the 1960s, visually representing the social justice efforts of that time, and incorporating imagery from colonial folk art, religious iconography, indigenous traditions, graffiti art, and the melding of cultures along the US/Mexico border.
The 61,420-square-foot center, which used to be a midcentury public library, will house the work of artists such as Carlos Almaraz, Judithe Hernández, Gilbert “Magú” Luján, Sandy Rodriguez, Frank Romero, and Patssi Valdez. A portion of this collection will be exhibited and toured at venues across the nation and throughout the world.
Riverside, CA (February 8, 2022)—The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum originally scheduled to open May 8 is now scheduled to open on Saturday, June 18, 2022.
Supply chain issues, contractor-related staffing shortages due to COVID-19, and unforeseen construction setbacks that come with renovating a historical building combined to necessitate this change. While unfortunate, a path forward has been established on how outstanding items will be resolved in a timely and safe manner.
“The opening has been delayed, but don’t despair!” says actor, comedian, and preeminent Chicano art collector and art advocate Cheech Marin. “We want everything to be just right so we can welcome the world in celebrating Chicano art and culture at The Cheech. Join us in June!”
The opening day of The Cheech, presented by US Bank, has been moved to June 18, 2022. A civic dedication will take place at The Cheech on Thursday, June 16, and a Gala, presented by UNIDOS, which was previously scheduled for Friday, May 6, is now set for Friday, June 17, at the Riverside Convention Center.