I’m going to keep it a buck with yawl and admit having my work show at The Cheech Museum for felt like a really far, far away dream back in 2017. I was navigating my way out of a really harmful relationship, trying to show up for my children when I could barely show up for myself, struggling to financially support us all thru my blog + freelance writing even though I knew I had to make some changes. I just couldn’t hold up the perfect family/perfect mother mask that blogging required of me any longer. Little did I know I was journeying thru one of the most brutal ego deaths I’ve ever experienced. Thinking back, it still makes me quiver in my boots. I send love + strong heart energy to myself, to her, the wife + mother.
rediscovering art saved my life
My art guides – my muses – were calling out to me so loudly that I could no longer ignore them. They wanted to be invited back in, they wanted to be explored, they wanted to come alive. I’m so grateful they didn’t give up on me. When it felt like I was losing everything, my artist self – my higher self – assured me she was still very much present. It was time to reclaim my identity as a creator, as an artist. I started painting again and it felt so good, so natural, like coming home to myself.
Hearing the news that The Cheech was opening in my own hood was exciting. All of my Chicano/a/x heroes in the same building, Cheech’s vast collection, providing a lifetime of inspiration to my artist spirit since I was in college. Maybe one day, I thought to myself. I didn’t know how my art would arrive at the Cheech — I had only been in a handful of shows at that point, I didn’t know anybody in the art community + no one was familiar with my work. My intuition told me not to bother myself with the details. I just started creating and let the Universe do her magick.
Visiting the Cheech with my parents, my siblings, my nieces + nephews, the girlfriends and my bestie and feeling their love and support of me and my work was a sweet life memory. My children have been to countless art shows over the years and I know this was a proud moment for them too.
origenes/origens art exhibit at The Cheech
Origenes/Origins exhibit will be on view in the Altura Credit Union Community Gallery at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of Riverside Art Museum thru Sunday, October 1, 2023 | 3581 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA, 92501
