-- honoring this evening is our good friend peter rodriguez. [applause] >> we have a member of the mayor's office as a designee. peter rodriguez was raised in both stockton and jackson, california where he first developed an interest in art. his fascination for art grew when mr. rodriguez went on a second trip to mexico in 1956 bringing with him some of his paintings hoping to exhibit during his trip. he found the appropriate venue to display his art, but was faced with a problem, no frames for his paintings. ever resourceful, peter, and relying on his background in advertising and window display used black yarn to draw frames around the paintings. in the 1975 he opened up the museum to present the artistic expression of the mexican people regardless of their birth nation from the informed perspective of the people themselves. as a museum expanded, it began to attract the attention of a broad scope of individuals including art collectors, and, thus, began to form a permanent collection now consisting of over 14,000 pieces. as the collection gre