Jimmy Longoria is the only Chicano/Latino/Hispanic to be awarded a Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship in Fine Art, and he is the only Minnesotan to have art in the permanent collection of Chicago’s National Museum of Mexican Art, the largest collection of Mexican Art outside Mexico. Jimmy’s art was chosen by Target Corporation to represent all of Hispanic Art for the 25th anniversary symposium of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, a national gathering of influential Hispanic leaders, government officials, and Fortune 100 corporate executives. Jimmy is the only artist to receive the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Living the Dream” Award.
Jimmy Longoria was born and raised on a farm in South Texas. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., learning from masters of art, such as Rufino Tamayo and Jose Luis Cuevas, as well as business and creativity advocates, such as Peter Drucker, Gene Roddenberry, Edwards Deming, and Isaac Asimov. While developing his understanding of modern and contemporary art he forged his own vision of giving back to the community as a central canon of Chicano art.
Jimmy’s unique and signature painting style is recognized for its dazzling color, contrast and multiple layers created with hundreds if not thousands of brush strokes. His mural technique and other forms of massive art-making are passed on to youth -wherever youth are found - through his organization Mentoring Peace Through Art. In the program MuralWorks in the Schools, whole classrooms are turned into mural companies, where each student is given a job that challenges them to produce results. In MuralWorks in the Streets youth are fully immersed in the process of deterring gang graffiti with exuberant community-based art. In both programs, youth are introduced to Jimmy’s vision that giving back to the community is the highest form of art.
Jimmy’s commitment to giving back to our community led Target Corporation to label him as “Someone We’d Like You to Meet” in a 2004 national campaign featuring six people who embody Target’s spirit of giving back to the community. The McKnight Foundation honored him with a Virginia McKnight Binger Award in Human Service in 2008. In 2013 he received Ordway’s “Sally Award” for his artistic vision of giving back to the community through art and La Familia Hispanic Heritage Award in recognition of Jimmy’s commitment to his Hispanic heritage, culture and community and his dedication and exceptional work as an artist and educator.
You will currently find Jimmy’s art hanging in the offices of U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, and prominent state Senators at the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul. His mission-laden paintings are well suited to the dynamic executive leader’s office as a focal point call-to-action.