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

Center for Creative Photography, Tuscon AZ Aquisition of the Photographer Oliver Gagliani Archive

Photographic archive of Oliver Gagliani acquired by the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona, USA

California photographer OLIVER GAGLIANI (1917‐2002) is known for his technically beautiful photographs as well as for his engaging subject matter. His distinct photographic vision imbues ordinary objects with a spiritual quality. For him, abstractions and fragments of the whole reveal the underlying essence. Oliver Gagliani wrote, “It is the photographer, through the medium of light, who must confront these objects directly, not as he would like them to be, but as they are in themselves. It is the measure of his success as to how deeply he is able to perceive the life which they have experienced, and penetrate the surface to tap the wisdom which they have to offer.” Photographer Oliver Gagliani’s inspired color works created in his many trips to Italy also reveal his mastery of the photographic medium.

The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, Tuscon, has recently  announced (March, 28) the acquisition of  the photographic archive of Oliver Gagliani which contains over 700 fine print photographs in addition to papers, negatives, contact sheets, detailed exposure tests and notes.

Oliver Gagliani

OLIVER GAGLIANI, Untitled, 1980. Gift of the artist to the CCP

© Heirs of Oliver Gagliani, Courtesy Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona Foundation 82.20.9

Born into an Italian-American family in Placerville, California, Oliver Gagliani lived most of his eighty-five years in South San Francisco. From grade school through college, music was his passion. In 1940, he enrolled in San Francisco State University to major in music with a concentration in conducting. However, after suffering a significant hearing loss during his service in WWII, his plans for a career in music ended. By chance, he saw photographs by Paul Strand at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1946. At that moment, he realized that a career in the arts was possible with photography. Oliver Gagliani believed that both photography and music share the principles of tones, harmonies, and rhythms. He wrote, “The contrast that Strand could make between light and shade, between object and space, was marvelous. It made me think of music, which I had been studying for a long time.”

Largely self-taught, Oliver Gagliani’s only formal training in photography was seven weeks of study in 1946 with Ansel Adams and Minor White at the California School of Fine Arts (now the Art Institute of San Francisco). He had his first solo exhibition in 1954 at the Peninsula Art Association in San Mateo, California, which was followed by many others, including exhibitions at the George Eastman House, San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Witkin Gallery. Over the years, he taught workshops and had a large group of devoted students. He was a founding member of the Visual Dialogue Foundation in San Francisco in 1969. With a Fischer Grant from the University of Arizona in 1974, Oliver Gagliani traveled to Italy and returned there annually for 20 years, producing over 20,000 images. In 1976, he received a National Foundation of the Arts grant. 

CENTER FOR CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY, TUSCON, ARIZONA

www.creativephotography.org

The CCP is located on the University of Arizona campus, Fine Arts Complex, 1030 N. Olive Rd., Tucson, AZ.

Andy Burgess, Eric Firestone Gallery, Tuscon - Get What You Want

Andy Burgess: Get What You Want 
Eric Firestone Gallery, Tuscon, AZ 
January 23 - February 21, 2010

ANDY BURGESS

Coast to Coast, 2009

Oil on Panel, 16”h x 20”w

© Andy Burgess, courtesy of Eric Firestone Gallery, Tuscon

Get What You Want is the first one-man exhibition in the United States for Andy Burgess. The exhibition focuses on jazzy paintings and the small-scale collages they are fueled by. Andy Burgess is a Tucson and London based artist who is an avid collector of graphic ephemera from the “golden age” of American graphic design. Concentrating on the years between 1930 and 1950, Andy Burgess employs matchbooks and other ephemera that possess strong graphic impact in their pattern, typography and color. The disparate items are then unapologetically deconstructed – cut up into tiny pieces and reconstructed into visual poems that simultaneously dazzle as multi-colored pop art pieces. The tiny collages then expand through a translation of brush and paint into very active allover compositions. Intricate in the manner of Islamic mosaic and Navajo design, the works are a fine balance of jewel-like color, rich texture and dynamic pattern. It is however, the artist’s unique treatment of each, together and alone, that allows them an escape into the realm of the exotic while pervading the memory and remaining very familiar.

ANDY BURGESS

Origin, 2009

Oil on Panel, 16”h x 20”w

© Andy Burgess, courtesy of Eric Firestone Gallery, Tuscon

Andy Burgess embraces the notion of nostalgia in all he creates. His influences are varied, yet Andy Burgess brings them together seamlessly – the freedom and experimentation of the American beat poets and pop artists getting harnessed by the hard line geometries and color theories of early constructivist and Bauhaus artists and thinkers. Get What You Want is the fabric of everyday Americana channeled through long standing European traditions. The resulting works are truly timeless.

ANDY BURGESS was born in London, England in 1969. Burgess holds a BA degree in Politics and Parliamentary Studies from Leeds University and a BA degree in Fine Art from Byam Shaw School of Art. Andy Burgess’ collages and paintings have been exhibited widely through international art fairs and exclusively in London with The Cynthia Corbett Gallery. Andy Burgess lives inTucson, AZ and maintains studios in London and Tucson.

ERIC FIRESTONE GALLERY
403 North 6th Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85701
www.ericfirestonegallery.com