My Idenity, My skectbook, through a Corn Husk Rose, Piant Brush and Intials.

For the cover of my sketch book I choose an open flower shaped as a rose, but the most important aspect of this flower is that it is made out of corn husk. While it may not be apparent that this rose is made out of corn husk, the corn hsuk is crucial to my identity as a Chicana. To me las hojas de elote are used to make tamales. While most people make tamales during the holidays, in my household my mom makes tamales all year round and at least once a week. Helping her make tamales was and will always be part of our “chores” (our = my sisters and me). During this time the kitchen becomes a no man zone, then again my dad is not a big fan of making tamales. We huddle around the table while sing to the mariachi playing from the speakers. Occasionally things get heated and my sisters and I exchange a few insults, but this is part of being a sibling. Not only is the corn husk flower a reference to my heritage and to the quality time I spend with my mom and sisters, but because my mom sells these delicious wrapped goods, it also pays for the luxuries we have such as eating out, going to the movies. And most often it plays for my bus ticket home during the school year. While it might sound cheesy, the repurposing of the corn husk from simply being part of the corn stalk and then transforming it into art work, like corn husk dolls and flowers, mimics the art of making tamales. It is about finding beauty within the ordinary.  

On my cover I also have my initials, and they are simply a symbol that this book belongs to Lucero Duran.

 I also decided to add a paint brush because it alludes to painting. In my senior at Palmdale High School it took a painting course. And will at first I hated it, with time I began to love painting, mostly because learned how to paint and to be patient. Towards the end of the course I did a landscape which my teacher decided to submit into the high school district art show. Not only was it entered, but won third place. I am not listing this accomplishment to brag, but as an example that while I first hated painting because nothing seemed to go my way I learned to love it and eventually my hard work paid off. While I do not get the opportunity to paint much this brush is a symbol of hard work, dedication, and my love for art. Meanwhile the corn husk rose is a symbol of the bond and love between mother and daughters, a bond between sisters, a symbol of hard work, the beauty in life, art work, and part of my identity as a Chicana.