Chicano Arts Show at Hallmark

Thank goodness Got Art Gallery was kind enough to lend me these.

So what happens when someone drops the ball, and you are asked to help pick it up and run with it as far as you can? Do you fumble it? Do you hand it off? Do I know enough football references to keep this up?

No. 

To all the last three. 

To the first question, you have to decide if making sure that an art show going in at Hallmark that has myriad artworks created by a very skilled set of artists, is worthy of being shown and curated. But since that person was not able to do that, I was asked to step in, and really do something that was no lie, daunting and nerve wracking all at once, but in the end rewarding as all hell.

But they did need a fresh coat of paint. So why not the very evening before the art exhibit had to go up?

I want to thank Deanna, Jenny, Anthony, and a lot of others for the last minute help involved in getting this show up and running. I'm not joking, I could not have done it without you all.

Just the week before, I was just trying to get my two works finished up so I could get them submitted to the show. Because this show is fervently important and vital to not only exposing people at Hallmark to the Chicano art movements and culture, when I was asked to curate and get the displays up and ready for this, how could I say no?

It's ironic that not but two months after I was laid off from Hallmark, I'm back installing a show. Maybe it's not irony. Maybe, it's what I want to believe it is. That I had to leave Hallmark for various reasons, but because I believe in and worked with some amazing people, I HAD to do this.

Because it needed to happen. My friend Deanna had brought me into the fold on the necessity for us to have a voice, and by us, I mean the Hispanics that worked at Hallmark. To show that our voices, our thoughts, our ideas and words meant something, will mean something, and until this moment, had not really been heard.

I was a bit pleasantly surprised by the larger sizes I found most everyone had worked in.

I'm really glad I've had practice over the years doing art shows of all kinds and had been recently refining my displays and learning how to hang art work.

Thanks for getting this photo of me Jenny Mendez!

That was a crazy busy evening, and we all stayed late and got it together, and I am so freaking proud of how good it looks and how well it came out looking.

My work was a sculpture piece based on mythology ancient and modern. That is me in Miimoto form.

About a week later, I was invited back to Hallmark with all of the other participating artists to see the exhibit again, and hear a few of the artists speak.

No matter the show I do, I'm always thinking about 40 more things I could have done to make it look even better...

The guy in all black is none other than the editor of Lowrider Magazine, Joe Ray.

I worked at Hallmark for three years, and this was the day I finally got to talk to Don Hall one on one.

(Upper Left) Deanna Munoz and Jenny Mendez, (Middle Left) Joe Ray, (Bottom Left) Michael Reyes, (Right) Mural from Chicano Park, San Diego California.

If you want to see more about Chicano Park head to this site here. To find our more about the Mattie Rhodes Chicano Exhibit, check out this page here.

This whole thing was a defining moment for me, not just as a Hispanic man, but also as an artist. It carried a lot of emotional weight for the people in my family that never got the chance to become artists, whose legacy I carry in my heart, my memories, and more. 

I know that my great uncle Manuel, he was always one of the most creative people in my family, and he was the one that told my father to let me be an artist, to just let me grow into what I would become, because he never got that chance. 

Thank you uncle Manuel, wherever you are. We did it, I was able to make a spark, even in a place where I was taken out of, and I helped to bring life, light, and color to the forefront, hand in hand with friendship, kind words, determination, and lit a fire that I will do all I can to make sure it never goes out. For my part in having done this show, I dedicate it to my Uncle Manuel. Wherever you are, I hope you have all the colors of the rainbows to paint the sky with.

Until next time, be kind to your fellow beings, support your local artists, and never stop creating. 

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue

For the many of you who could not be there, I am including this powerful spoken word poetry that Michael Reyes performed for us that day.