Chicano artist uses unconventional materials to showcase his heritage

STILLWATER, Minn. — Becoming an artist wasn’t the plan, but one Stillwater man can’t imagine doing anything else.

“What I love about art is that it always has a frontier,” said Jimmy Longoria.

Jimmy Longoria’s family wanted him to become the first Latino governor of Texas. He even took political science classes, but he realized he could inspire change through a different medium.

“As a Hispanic artist, my job is to make the art of the future, not the past,” he said. “It’s all about the investigations of the future of my culture.”

He said Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to celebrate diversity.

“We come in so many different flavors,” he said.

Longoria said he’s a Chicano artist.

“Chicano is openly rebellious, that says we’re a fusion of all indigenous and Hispanic cultures,”