Overview of the Course

One of the most interesting concepts we studied this quarter deals with how to identify a Chicana Artist. This notion became more complex as classmates began to present on Chicana artist. Through this course I came to the realization that Chicana artist do not have to create art based on the Chicana/o culture nor activist art. Artist should not be limited to making art based on one portion of their identity. Then Vladimir presented on Carlee Fernandez who further challenged what it means to be a Chicana artist. Despite being of Mexican descent Fernandez is an artist that does not identify herself as Chicana.

Through this course I gained an awareness of the art world and the female Chicana artist that encompass it.  Not every artist decides to paint/ draw/ sculpt on classic iconic Chicana/o subjects like Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Frida Khalo, La Virgen De Guadalupe. No artist is should be confined into a stereotype, Camille Rose Garcia  is an example of an artist that identifies as Chicana but does not deal with what one would believe to be typical Chicana/o subjects. Instead she uses fairytale and Disney to create lowbrow art that shows a psychological twist to children’s favorite tales.

But just as there are artist that distant themselves from the typical Chicana/o subjects, we were also introduced to artist like Ester Hernandez, Yolanda Lopez  and Yrenia Cervantez who decide to dedicate a portion of their art to empowering and bringing awareness to the Chicana/o community.