It's seldom that once-in-a-lifetime opportunities come your way, especially in a wonderfully small town like Bellingham, Washington. Last Friday evening, I was invited to attend the member preview of Chicanitas: Small Paintings from the Cheech Marin Collection {Size Doesn't Matter} at the Whatcom Museum's Lightcatcher building. Cheech Marin is, of course, the star of the now legendary film Born in East L.A. and an accomplished actor, director and performer.
After an incredible evening of Mexican food, libations, music, and fabulous art, I had the opportunity to do a brief one-on-one interview with the guest of honor himself for KGMI News Talk 790 AM for which I am also a news writer and reporter.
Chicanitas features some 65 paintings by 26 Mexican-American artists from Los Angeles, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and beyond. The show is making its rounds across the United States with Bellingham its first stop of four engagements it will make in 2013. The pieces in this show are part of a larger collection that has been seen at the Smithsonian and museums around the country. Since nearly 17% of the U.S. population was Latino in 2011, Marin is hopeful that the exhibit will open the general public's eyes to the Chicano experience and help it embrace the huge cultural shift our country has seen in the last three decades.
As a Spanish speaker and a lover of Chicano and Latino music, literature and art, the evening was like having the Universe align and give you everything you wish for...in addition to some humor that made me laugh my arse off!
Listen to my interview, get the background on Chicanitas directly from Cheech and see images from the preview party HERE:
For more information on the show, visit http://www.whatcommuseum.org/galleries/upcoming/410-chicanitas-small-paintings-from-the-cheech-marin-collection.
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