Viktor Ortix said owning a gallery isn’t about making money.
“We don't take anything. We're just a community space held open by community members so we can launch folks out,” he said.
Founded in 2022 by Ortix, Mi Barrio 214 is more than an art gallery. Inside you'll find a comic book shop, a coffee corner, a bookstore and a plant shop.
“It's not about me,” he said. “It's about my community and holding doors open for them.”
Ortix said Pleasant Grove has lacked cultural places like this for years. It’s considered an arts desert since residents don’t have easy access to galleries, cultural institutions or regular opportunities to engage in creative activities. Mi Barrio 214 is one of two galleries in Pleasant Grove trying to transform the community with art.
“This place opened with the idea of giving back to my community,” he said.
Gallery 86 is just one mile south. A group of frat brothers, Juan Castillo, Javier Riojas, Nicolás González and Arturo Hernandez, founded the virtual art gallery in 2017 to showcase their work and underrepresented artists.
“I think art keeps us human. It keeps us in touch with our own real sense of identity, who we are.” Castillo said.
In 2022, the Pleasant Grove natives opened a physical space in their hometown.
“We want to have something like that here, where people can not only see the artwork on display in their public life, but also identify with it, have a sense of ownership,” Castillo said.
They now host art shows, workshops and classes aimed at building creative opportunities and have featured about 25 local artists and exhibitions. Hermila Cuevas is one of those artists. The fine arts painter has lived all over Dallas but chose to settle in Pleasant Grove with her children.
“Here everyone is just so together, like no matter what you need,” she said. “‘Come on, let's go figure this out.’”
Cuevas said living in Pleasant Grove has helped her connect deeper with her Latino roots, something she lacked growing up. She said Gallery 86 understands her.
“In downtown Dallas, you see all these galleries, but they're very intimidating,” she said. “Like where is a person like me going to be able to show my work and is it's really going to relay the message that I need to?”
They’ve introduced her to people in the Dallas art community, sold her work and helped her get grants. More importantly, they know her culture. She doesn’t have to explain the influence of her Mexican American and Indigenous heritage on her work.
“Finding them has been like that plug I needed,” she said.
Beyond representing artists, both galleries believe deeply in serving the larger community. Gallery 86 works with local muralists to beautify the area and host their annual event Art Quest, a city art scavenger hunt where they reach out to neighborhood artists, invite them to the space and display their artwork. Mi Barrio hosts community gardening events, sells comic books with POC superheroes and hosts benefit shows for artists in need of medical care.
However, the galleries know that art and development can be a double-edged sword. Spaces that make neighborhoods attractive can also spark outside investments, raising rents and displacing longtime residents.
Both galleries noticed other areas like Trinity Groves and Deep Ellum experience the same effects of gentrification. In their own neighborhood, they’ve noticed new development and people asking about properties.
Ortix is focused on internal solutions like keeping ownership local. That means ensuring that as Mi Barrio grows, it stays in the community's hands. He hopes to buy the building the gallery operates in now.
Some days he works 18 hours. He starts at the gallery selling coffee, working on T-shirt orders. After that he works at an after-school tech program with Big Thought teaching art to kids in the Medlock Detention Center.
He’s lucky if he makes $1,500 a month to cover the gallery’s rent. All the money he makes gets poured back into the building and the artists they work with. But for Ortix, the sacrifice is worth it.
“I'm gonna still work. Eighteen hours a day to keep the space open for as long as I can and hopefully we can help out more youth and creatives from the space,” he said.
Castillo shares a similar sentiment.
“This is, I think, as much about the neighborhood lifting itself as it is about the artwork itself,” he said.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
