Ya Hecho: Readymade in the Borderlands @ Tucson Museum of Art

Ya Hecho: Readymade in the Borderlands 

Tucson Museum of Art 

Through November 30, 2025

Lorena Ochoa 

Freedom of Speech, 2025 

Norman Rockwell book depicting American Freedoms, 

Inglés Sin Barreras Workbook, ceiling tile, Plaskolite ceiling grid, 

rotary phone, trimmer line, galvanized metal tape, 

intaglio on Plexiglass, acrylic, polymer, 

and enamel on wooden panel

Image courtesy of the Artist 

José Villalobos 

Deeply Rooted in Machismo, 2025 

Found boots, natural rope 

Image courtesy of the Artist 

Narsiso Martinez 

Unnumbered Portraits 3, 2023 

Linocut prints on found produce boxes 

Collection of the Tucson Museum of Art 

Museum Purchase 

Funds provided by Latin American Art Patrons, 

Sue and Maurice Nieland, and David and Julia Andres. 2024.11

Gil Rocha 

Untitled XX, 2023 

Found objects

Image courtesy of the Artist 

Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block presents Ya Hecho: Readymade in the Borderlands guest curated by Rigoberto Luna.

This exhibition features contemporary artists living and working from both sides of the United States-Mexico border while focusing on the significance of materials and place in art-making practices. Gesturing towards the Chicano sensibilities of rasquachismo—a legacy of resourcefulness born from necessity—blended with the European and American tradition of the readymade, these artists’ transform mass-produced and found objects to explore themes of land and labor, movement and migration, materiality of place, and beyond borders.

Anne Breckenridge Barrett, TMA’s Jon and Linda Ender Director and CEO reflects, “This exhibition powerfully embodies the Tucson Museum of Art’s mission to connect art to life. Ya Hecho explores how artists engage in making through personal conceptual practice using found objects—welcoming a dialogue around lived experience in the Borderlands. TMA has a longstanding commitment to collecting contemporary and Latin American art, making this a meaningful addition to our ongoing focus on art of our region and its far-reaching impact.”

Installation photo of Ya Hecho: Readymade in the Borderlands 

featuring artworks by Margarita Cabrera and co-artists, 

Andrés Caballero and Vanessa Saavedra

Courtesy of the Tucson Museum of Art 

Photo: Tina Lieberman

Installation photo of Ya Hecho: Readymade in the Borderlands 

featuring artworks by Lorena Ochoa, Daisy Quezada Ureña, 

Miriam Salado, and Vicente Telles

Courtesy of the Tucson Museum of Art 

Photo: Tina Lieberman

Installation photo of Ya Hecho: Readymade in the Borderlands 

featuring artworks by María José Crespo, Federico Cuatlacuatl, 

Raúl De Lara, Rubén Ulises Rodríguez Montoya, 

and Gloria Martinez-Granados 

Courtesy of the Tucson Museum of Art 

Photo: Tina Lieberman

The exhibition amplifies the contributions of Latinx artists from the Southwest while highlighting shared approaches to storytelling, art-making, and cross-cultural exchanges. Featuring 42 artworks by 18 artists made over the last 20 years, Ya Hecho evokes the landscape and cultural aesthetic of the Borderlands through sculpture and installation deeply rooted in personal experiences and historical narratives.

Guest curator Rigoberto Luna reflects, “This exhibition is important because the works emerge from the social and material realities of Borderland communities—it is both personal and about an important creative moment. Mobilizing everyday materials—cardboard, produce bags, truck parts—these artists engage in transformative acts. Through resourcefulness and care, they reveal that what is often overlooked or discarded can hold the deepest meaning about who we are.”

By inventively synthesizing found and familiar objects, artists in Ya Hecho create a language of possibility rooted in materials, bridging personal associations with complex diasporic themes—conveying histories of labor, migration, survival, and resilience.

Gil Rocha 

REST, 2024 

Found objects 

Image courtesy of the Artist

Federico Cuatlacuatl 

Nacaxtotomo, 2024 

Wearable sculpture 

Image courtesy of the Artist 

Photo: Camilo Pachon

Ya Hecho includes the artwork of Andrés Caballero and Vanessa Saavedra, Margarita Cabrera, María José Crespo. Federico Cuatlacuatl, Raúl De Lara, Verónica Gaona, Gloria Martinez-Granados, Narsiso Martinez, Sophia Mayorga, Rubén Ulises Rodríguez Montoya, Lorena Ochoa, Daisy Quezada Ureña, Gil Rocha, Miriam Salado, Vicente Telles, José Villalobos, and Judi Werthein. Also featured in the exhibition are poems by Tucson-based Diana Marie Delgado, Gabriel Dozal, Melani “Mele” Martinez, and Logan Phillips, which expands on main themes.

TUSCON MUSEUM OF ART

Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block

140 North Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701

www.tucsonmuseumofart.org

Ya Hecho: Readymade in the Borderlands 

Tucson Museum of Art , July 3 – November 30, 2025

Divergence of Legacy: Art of the American West in the 21st Century @ Tuscon Museum of Art

Divergence of Legacy: Art of the American West in the 21st Century 

Tuscon Museum of Art

February 22 – June 22, 2025

Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block (TMA) presents Divergence of Legacy: Art of the American West in the 21st Century. This exhibition, developed with eight community curators, explores how mythic, authentic, and nuanced cultural items, experiences, and artistic practices may work in dialogue with one another and offer contemporary understandings of the Western region and Tucson. Using TMA’s collection with select loans from the Tia Collection in Santa Fe, the exhibition offers visitors opportunities for new understandings of Art of the American West, its significance to the past and present, and a broadening of social contexts and traditional conventions. With the inclusion of works of art created between the 1870s and 2024, this exhibition positions the major theme of defiance and reimagination as a necessity for survival and method for transforming and expanding the canon of art of the American West. Throughout the galleries, visitors also encounter a secondary themes of erasure and technology which questions ideas of progress and manifest destiny.

In 2024, the museum was awarded a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to scale its approach to community-based curation with an in-depth exploration of the museum’s Art of the American West collection including the feature exhibition, a reinstallation of the collection gallery, a publication, and public programs. The team spearheading the exhibition includes Christine Brindza, Senior Curator and Glasser Curator of Art of the American West and Marianna Pegno, Director of Engagement and Inclusion, who said of the project, “Our investigations over several years have shown there is a need to amplify stories of the region that are not seen in traditional works of art of the American West. Through working with community curators, this exhibition explores how ideas can be expanded to include imagery and stories often overlooked. These have brought attention to the way we display and collect these types of art.”

Explaining how Divergence of Legacy was developed, artist and community curator Yu Yu Shiratori reflected, “curating works from the Tucson Museum of Art’s permanent collection to define art of the American West brought forth a compelling challenge: how do we encapsulate a narrative that is as fluid and evolving as the cultural and historical forces shaping this region?”

Divergence of Legacy: Art of the American West in the 21st Century has been developed through a community-based curatorial framework: Elizabeth Denneau, Dwayne Manuel, Ruben Urrea Moreno, Harrison Preston, Yu Yu Shiratori, Feng-Feng Yeh, and Alisha Vasquez and Rikki Riojas with the Mexican American Heritage and History Museum.

TUSCON MUSEUM OF ART

Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block

140 North Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701

www.tucsonmuseumofart.org

Arizona Biennial 2024 @ Tucson Museum of Art

Arizona Biennial 2024 

Tucson Museum of Art 

October 19, 2024 - February 9, 2025 

Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block (TMA) celebrates multidisciplinary works and innovation by outstanding Arizona artists in Arizona Biennial 2024, a much-anticipated showcase since first organized in 1948. This exhibition provides an opportunity for both emerging and established artists to exhibit their art in a museum setting. For each biennial, a new juror from outside the state is chosen to select the works submitted by hundreds of artists and create a cohesive exhibition that serves as an overview of artistic creativity in Arizona.

Arizona artists over 18 years of age working in any media were invited to submit artworks for consideration for Arizona Biennial 2024. From 1,426 entries submitted by over 560 artists, 42 works were selected for exhibition by guest juror Natasha Becker, curator of African Art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Becker stated: “The artists featured in the 2024 Arizona Biennial use drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, installation art, and performance to spark critical discussions and impactful experiences about the complex and changing aspects of contemporary American society.”

The exhibition contains a variety of media, including video, textiles/fiber arts, photography, painting, works on paper, and more.

Arizona Biennial 2024 - Featured Artists: Alejandro Acierto, Lori Andersen, Jacqueline Arias, Judith Austen, Scott Baxter, Theodore Beatty, Clare Benson, Heather Bentz, Laura Spalding Best, Triston Blanton, Synnova Blattman, Alexander Brauer, Manny Burruel, Granville Carroll, Austin Caswell, Linda Chappel, Thomas Coffin, Patrick Curtin, Jan Talmadge Davids, Camila de Andrade Bianchi, Susan Ringstad Emery, Sasha Escareño-Rosic, Shaunté Glover, Drew Grella, Ruxandra Guidi, Erika Lynne Hanson, Reed Hearne, Patricia Katchur, Matthew Kennedy, Danny Le, Serge J-F. Levy, Anita Maksimiuk, Mariel Miranda, Filomena Obono, Godshand Owusu-Appiah, Claire Campbell Park, Safwat Saleem, Liza Stout, Lloyd Ulmer, Denise Yaghmourian, Bobby Zokaites

“TMA’s longstanding survey of Arizona’s thriving arts scene provides an exciting opportunity for museum visitors to discover new and reconsider familiar artistic voices. I appreciate the involvement of this year’s esteemed juror and look forward to seeing where our state’s artists have found inspiration,” remarked Norah Diedrich, the Jon and Linda Ender Director and CEO.

TUSCON MUSEUM OF ART

Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block

140 North Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701

www.tucsonmuseumofart.org

Arizona Biennial 2023 @ Tucson Museum of Art - Featured Artists Exhibition

Arizona Biennial 2023

Tucson Museum of Art 

April 1 - October 1, 2023

Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block (TMA) celebrates multidisciplinary works and innovation by outstanding Arizona artists in Arizona Biennial 2023, a much-anticipated showcase since first organized in 1948. For emerging artists, this exhibition often provides an opportunity to exhibit their art in a museum setting or to introduce their work to the public for the first time. Museum visitors are also exposed to works by established artists with statewide, national, and international reputations.

Arizona artists over 18 years of age working in any media were invited to submit for consideration for Arizona Biennial 2023. From 400 entries, 67 works were selected for exhibition by guest juror Taína Caragol, Curator of painting, sculpture, and Latinx art and history at the National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition contains a variety of media, including video, textiles/fiber arts, photography, painting, works on paper and more. 

“I sincerely thank the Arizona artists who submitted their artworks to our 2023 Biennial, as well as this year’s distinguished juror for thoughtfully reviewing over 400 entries. TMA’s longstanding state-wide survey of our thriving Arizona arts scene provides an exciting opportunity for museum visitors to discover new and reconsider familiar artists while learning about what caught the juror’s eye,” remarked Norah Diedrich, the Jon and Linda Ender Director and CEO.

Featured Artists: Nicole Antebi, Jacqueline Arias, Holley Bakich, Eli Blasko, Kate Breakey, Cherie Buck-Hutchison, Wade Carter, David Collis, Katie Cooper, Craig Cully, Ashley Czajkowski, Martin Dimitrov, Sasha Escareño-Rosic, Kurt Gibson, Denis Gillingwater, Estephania González, Heather Green, Guillermo Gutierrez, Adam Helms, Brian Hooker, Chris Jagmin, Adia Jamille, Lisa Jensen, Alan Bur Johnson, Saskia Jorda, Tehan Ketema, Joseph Labate, Jessica James Lansdon, Tai Lipan, Alejandro Macias, Matt Magee, Monica Aissa Martinez, Nikki Berger Martinez, Tim Melideo, Brooke Molla, Ann Morton, Catherine Nash, Dale O’Dell, Ryan Parra, Elizabeth Z. Pineda, Alejandra Platt-Torres, Rembrandt Quiballo, Antonio Salazar, Safwat Saleem, lydia see, Perla Segovia, Gary Setzer, Barry L. Shapiro, Doug Shelton, Martina Shenal, Kaitlyn Jo Smith, George Strasburger, Marilyn Szabo, David Taylor, John Tuomisto-Bell, Hyewon Yoon

“The Arizona Biennial is considered one of the best venues for seeing what is happening with the visual arts in Arizona. Curators and visitors from around the state and country look to this exhibition to become acquainted with a wide variety of art forms from diverse artists. It showcases imagination, innovation, and masterfully created works of art.” said Julie Sasse, Chief Curator.

TUSCON MUSEUM OF ART

Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block

140 North Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701

www.tucsonmuseumofart.org