This June as the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture in Riverside, California celebrates its first anniversary with a new exhibit of “Cheech Collects,” Rio Grande Valley artists continue to claim their place at the table.

The museum, also known as “The Cheech,” opened in June 2022 as part of a partnership between actor and avid Chicano art collector Cheech Marin, Riverside Art Museum and the city of Riverside to highlight and promote better understanding and appreciation for Chicano art. The initial collection of more than 500 works for the museum was gifted by Marin.

“Cheech Collects” is a rotating exhibition that showcases work from the permanent collection, new acquisitions and works on loan from Marin’s private collection. The 2023 edition of “Cheech Collects” features 35 artists across over 90 works — including that of Valley artists Paul Valadez and Candelario “Cande” Aguilar Jr.

Valadez is an assistant professor of art at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and lives in Edinburg and was born in San Francisco.

He uses multiple materials, from mixed media to acrylics, to create works that explore identity and the perception of what Mexican-American art can be.

“A lot of the work I make deals with my identity and what I deal with, especially as a Hispanic, Chicano, Latino, Mexican-American, Tejano, Californio, xchicanx and Latinx person,” he said.

A big part of that exploration of identity is seen through the idea of Mexican food stemming from Valadez finding a throughline in his own experiences he could use to articulate this complex layering of identities in his art.

Valadez has three 28-by-22-inch pieces currently on display, titled “Mangonada,” Fresonada” and “Raptilia” that use acrylic paint on paper with a special thickening agent — menudo spice — to create these brightly colored and almost gestural depictions of food.

He uses the menudo spice partially because of its thickening prowess for his paint. It also, he feels, adds another layer of material to the finished piece since it is a culturally specific food element.

For the exhibition reception on June 17, Valadez also showcased his performance art, as he did the year prior. It is part of his potlach series that involves creating and giving away sketches he makes in leftover books.

The name potlach refers to the tradition of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest to give away all their possessions to raise their status in their social circle and as a display of wealth.

In addition to Valadez, for the second year in a row, Brownsville native and artist, Candelario “Cande” Aguilar Jr., is displayed as part of the exhibition.

Aguilar creates paintings, found-object assemblages, sculptures and video pieces to depict life along the U.S.-Mexico border through a colorful abstract style that he calls barrioPOP. The artist often uses hand-painted signage, image transfers and other found materials to assemble a regional visual language colored by his first experiences with art through local advertising signage.

This year, the piece “Las Varatas” is on display at The Cheech. The 116.75-by-147.5-inch work incorporates 30 laminated handwritten grocery store specials signs, which Aguilar Jr. received from the now-closed Lopez Supermarket No. 1 at McDavitt Boulevard and Roosevelt Street.

To Aguilar, the piece is quintessential barrioPOP with its bright colors, repetition of form and instant signifier as uniquely South Texas.

The artist was surprised to learn that he was in this exhibit. Aguilar says that with the number of works in the permanent collection, he expected to wait years, not months until his work went up again at The Cheech.

“What are the odds of one of your pieces being shown twice,” he said.

“Cheech Collects” will be on display at the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture until May 12, 2024.

The Reclaiming Our Identities powwow celebrated the two-spirit community during Pride weekend in Minneapolis.

Singers, dancers, and community gathered for the powwow at South High in Minneapolis. Fringed with rainbow colors, the gymnasium was transformed from a basketball court to a dance arena. Just down the hall in the open-air lunchroom, Indigenous artists and vendors covered folding tables with beaded jewelry, hats and ribbon work.

The next row over, community organizations set up tables with pamphlets and flyers, and paper powwow fans — much needed for a hot June day.

Volunteers wore bright pastel tee shirts with the progress pride and gender fluid flag, everyone celebrating Indigenous queer identities.

Two-spirit refers to an Indigenous person who has both a masculine and feminine spirit, a way people from across many tribal nations identify their spiritual and gender identity.

New Native Theater, a company in Minneapolis hosts the annual social dance. This was the second year that organizers welcomed people to the gathering.

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Charli Fool Bear, who is Dakota from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, is an artistic producer with New Native theater. She says the event began to honor two-spirit theater artists and art-makers.

“Theater itself is built on the work of two-spirit people. A part of Indigenous theater’s history starts with two-spirit folks,” said Fool Bear, “People who put it all on the line for our community, for storytelling, for … everything.”

Two-spirit Sisseton Dakota elder and lifelong Minneapolis resident Reva D’Nova said she arrived from another event to spend the day with her two-spirit relatives.

“The recognition of the two-spirit community is long overdue,” said D’Nova.

As a two-spirit elder, D’Nova says her role is to providing guidance to the younger people, “If I’m able to help them and guide them than I am happy to do it.”

Longtime Minneapolis resident Mo Mike helped lead the day’s events as one of two head dancers. Cree from Beardy’s-Okemawis First Nation, Saskatchewan, Mike identifies as two-spirit transmasculine. He says the event’s organizers work hard to make the space welcoming for people who may not have grown up going to Indigenous social gatherings.

“This will be safe space for them to be who we are as two-spirit trans people, gender non-conforming. We’re making it as safe as possible for all of us to be there.”

Brian Heart, a citizen of the Yankton Sioux tribe and a longtime resident of Minneapolis was asked by the event’s organizers to offer welcoming remarks.

“It’s time that we’re able to come out, be who we are, share a part of our knowledge and our wisdom,” said Heart, “It’s never too late to learn who you are as a person.”

Deanna StandingCloud, citizen of Red Lake Nation, has been MCing powwows for the past several years. She says the powwow is important to her as a parent.

“I am the mother of a two-spirit daughter. it’s really taught me a lot about being an Anishinaabe person, and also being a mother,” says StandingCloud, “A powwow for the two-spirit community needs to be a safe place because we’re reclaiming a lot of those teachings and a lot about being in community with each other.”

The event made history as the first powwow to have two women as MCs. Deanna StandingCloud was joined by her longtime friend—who also just happens to share her first name. Deanna Beaulieu, citizen of White Earth Nation, joined StandingCloud at the MC stand. For Beaulieu it was her first-time MC-ing.

Beaulieu says she was a bundle of nerves on her way to the powwow.

She credits her own two-spirit family members with helping to instill within her and other young family members a sense of acceptance. She said it helped her to remember to just be herself as she stepped into the new role.

“Raising us with that sense of like ‘We are accepting people and we’re generous with the spirit of giving and sharing, and inclusion’. I think that’s super important.”