The Riverside Art Museum (RAM) announced the departure of María Esther Fernández, inaugural Artistic Director of The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum (The Cheech), as part of an organizational restructuring.

During her four years at The Cheech, Fernández directed exhibitions and programs that amplified the intellectual power, cultural vitality, and essential contributions of Chicana/o/x art and community. She supported emerging and established curators of shows in the Altura Credit Union Community Gallery and advanced nationally touring exhibitions, including Xican-a.o.x Body, Yolanda M. López: Women’s Work is Never Done, and the critically acclaimed Amalia Mesa-Bains: Archaeology of Memory, which she co-curated. Fernández also co-curated the first Cheech Collects exhibition, which Hyperallergic named one of the “Top 50 Art Exhibitions of 2022,” and organized its three subsequent iterations. Among her most celebrated projects was a long-overdue retrospective of Judithe Hernández’s work.

Fernández supported The Cheech through her community building with artists locally and nationally, and her decades-long expertise in reimagining Chicana/o/x artistic representation in museums. She has been recognized for her curatorial vision and artistic leadership, including being named by the Los Angeles Times as a “Power Player” in its ongoing LA Vanguardia series.

I thank Esther for her commitment to The Cheech and look forward to seeing her future contributions to the field through her continuing curatorial practice. — Cheech Marin, Founding Donor, The Cheech

Esther helped put The Cheech on the map, demonstrating the potential of the museum. Her dedication supported the museum’s profile as a powerful platform for Chicana/o/x art and artists. — Patricia Reynolds, Board President, Riverside Art Museum

I wish the Riverside Art Museum the best as it enters this new chapter. I am proud of my work supporting The Cheech since its opening, and of what we created to showcase the power and vitality of Chicana/o/x art and culture. — María Esther Fernández, inaugural Artistic Director, The Cheech

Riverside, CA (June 24, 2025) – The Riverside Art Museum (RAM) Board of Trustees announces the resignation of Executive Director Drew Oberjuerge, effective August 15, 2025, marking a nearly 13½ year tenure at the helm of this long-standing art institution. Under her visionary leadership, the museum has experienced remarkable growth and transformation, notably highlighted by the opening of The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Arts and Culture (The Cheech), solidifying RAM’s role as a vital cultural hub in our community. This significant work culminated in RAM receiving the prestigious 2023 Museum and Library Service National Medal, the highest honor awarded to museums and libraries that exemplify excellence in service to their communities.

“Drew believed in this project from day one,” said Cheech Marin. “She brought the heart, the smarts, and the hustle it took to make The Cheech a reality. I’m deeply grateful for her vision and tenacity—for helping create a lasting home for Chicano art that will inspire generations.”

Throughout her tenure, Oberjuerge, in collaboration with the Board of Trustees and staff, spearheaded numerous initiatives that expanded exhibition offerings, increased community engagement, and significantly enhanced educational programs. Her unwavering commitment to the arts and her ability to inspire both staff and patrons have left an indelible mark on the organization.

“We are deeply grateful for Drew’s dedication and passion for the arts,” said Patricia Reynolds, President of the Riverside Art Museum Board of Trustees. “Her leadership has positioned the Riverside Art Museum as a leading institution in the region, and we wish her all the best in her future endeavors. With the establishment of The Cheech, our expanded art education programs, and vibrant exhibitions at the historic Julia Morgan building and The Cheech, a new executive director will inherit a strong foundation from which to lead us into our next phase of excellence.”

“Drew Oberjuerge has been an outstanding leader for RAM,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said. “She has elevated RAM from an institution that was well respected in the city and region to a powerhouse with a national and international reach. She will leave RAM well positioned for future success, and we are grateful for her service to our community.”

Oberjuerge is leaving to serve as Executive Director of the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts in Rancho Cucamonga. In this new role, she will collaborate with foundation trustees, staff, and stakeholders to chart a new period of excellence and accessibility for the organization that stewards the historic residence and woodshop of Sam Maloof, one of the most widely recognized artists from Inland Southern California.

“It’s been an honor to serve as the Executive Director of the Riverside Art Museum, working with so many good-hearted people over the years to innovate our institution,” says Oberjuerge. “I know that the future of the Riverside Art Museum, inclusive of The Cheech, is bright! I look forward to taking what I learned at RAM to the Maloof to strengthen another Inland Empire anchor institution to benefit our region’s communities.”

The Board of Trustees has begun the search for a new Executive Director and will soon appoint an Interim Executive Director to manage day-to-day operations until a permanent replacement is selected. The Riverside Art Museum remains committed to its mission of enriching the community through the arts and will continue to thrive in the years to come.

Riverside Art Museum announces a $100,000 matching gift from the Wingate Foundation that launches its inaugural Acquisitions Fund. The fund will support future purchases for the museum’s permanent collections, which includes the core collection of The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture. Until now, additions to the museum’s permanent collections have been largely reliant on donations and gifts of artworks (with occasional donor-supported purchases) recommended by museum curators and administrators for review and acceptance after a rigorous research and selection process.

Since opening The Cheech and its own founding over 50 years ago, Riverside Art Museum has focused on adding artworks to its permanent collections by artists with a range of styles and backgrounds and whose work resonates with the region. In addition to more than 500 works by Chicano artists gifted by Cheech Marin for The Cheech, RAM’s permanent collections include 1,500 other works. Notable are works by abstract painter Karl Benjamin (one of four renowned Southern California Abstract Classicists), Rex Brandt (whose oeuvre consists of paintings inspired by the life and geography of the West Coast), and Millard Sheets (best known for his watercolor landscape paintings and often featuring Surrealist imagery and iconography).

Over the past year and a half, Riverside Art Museum has added over 150 works by nearly 90 artists; a majority who are new to the permanent collections. Spanning from 1920 to 2023, all of these works augment the museum’s joint holdings and amplify the commitment to equitably diversify acquisitions and to collect from innovative points of view. Diverse in mediums, the latest additions to RAM’s permanent collections range from sculpture to works on paper and paintings to photographs.

For the Julia Morgan Building, a prominent highlight of the more than 70 works by over 40 artists donated to the RAM is a gift of two dozen mixed-media works on paper by Los Angeles artist Sandra Rowe.

For The Cheech, 80 works by almost 35 artists have been donated since June 2022. New to the core collection of The Cheech are works by established women artists Barbara Carrasco, Yreina D. Cervántez, Ester Hernández, Judithe Hernández, Yolanda López, and Patricia Rodriguez. Also newly represented in the holdings of The Cheech are artists Eduardo Carrillo, Rosy Cortez, Rupert García, Stephanie García, Luis C. Garza, Ed Gómez, Jaime Guerrero, Susan Guevara, Gerardo Monterrubio, Jesse E. Rodriguez, F. John Sierra, Paul Valadez, and Perry Vásquez.

Other recently accepted gifts were artworks by artists already represented in The Cheech’s collection, including Carlos Almaraz, William José Acedo, Pablo Andrés Cristi, Sonya Fe, David Flury, Margaret García, Diane Gamboa, Yolanda González, Wayne Alaniz Healy, Jeannette L. Herrera, Leo Limon, Gilbert “Magu” Luján, Jimmy Peña, Sandy Rodriguez, Frank Romero, Sonia Romero, Ricardo Ruiz, Marta Sánchez, Shizu Saldamando, John Valadez, Patssi Valdez, George Yepes, and José Luís Zuno.

“These additions to our permanent collections reflect our dedication and responsibility to represent narratives of our region and beyond, and to build on the generous gifts of Cheech and other donors. Our goal is to continue the transformative work that shapes the future of our collections, exhibitions, and programming at The Cheech and RAM’s Julia Morgan Building,” stated Drew Oberjuerge, Executive Director, Riverside Art Museum.

As part of its $500,000 gift to Riverside Art Museum to support The Cheech, the Wingate Foundation designated $100,000 for artwork acquisitions. The foundation’s intent of requiring a 1:1 match is to inspire collectors and donors to help expand the breadth of Marin’s gift of over 500 artworks. “Our goal is to help RAM build on Cheech’s generosity and to further his legacy at The Cheech by adding important representative (and new) works by established artists, continuing to seek out works by emerging artists, and diversifying his collection’s strong focus on paintings and prints with acquisitions of sculpture, photography, and video art,” shared Todd Wingate.

“We are grateful for the generosity of the Wingate Foundation. This donation will allow us to work towards achieving the goals of The Cheech to expand the breadth of artists who are centered in our space, allowing for new and necessary research into the complexity and powerful contributions of Chicanx art,” said María Esther Fernández, Artistic Director of The Cheech.

To submit an artwork for review and consideration, send an email to Jacob Willson, Registrar, at [email protected]. To contribute financially to RAM’s Acquisitions Fund, contact Valerie Found, Director of Development, at [email protected]. 

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 is a private foundation based in Riverside, California. Known for generously supporting causes great and small, John H. Wingate, Jr. founded the Wingate Foundation in 1998. After his passing in 2012, his son Todd Wingate took over operations for the foundation, which now focuses on providing grants that support the arts and the communities of the Inland Empire. Recent grant recipients include The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, UC Riverside, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Inland Empire, and Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino Counties.