Carmen Lomas Garza

       
At the age of thirteen, Carmen Lomas Garza decided to become a visual artist and just like Yolanda Lopez, she took advantage of every opportunity to advance her knowledge of art through higher education institutions. During the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s, Garza was inspired by her everyday life experiences in a Mexican American based community. Based on her memories and experiences in South Texas, Garza saw the need to display images that Mexican Americans would relate to, but at the same time serve as an educator to those not familiar with her culture. Carmen Lomas Garza’s main objective is to make paintings, prints, installations, paper, and metal cutouts that instill pride in of her culture. One of my favorite “folk” artworks of Mexican-American culture from Garza is La Tamalada. This piece was created in 1988, and depicts a brown family, working together to make tamales. La Tamalada portrays family members sharing the work, some members would be in charge of contributing in some way of making the tamales, and some members of the family would just keep each other company as their contribution. Other elements hanging on the walls such as The Last Supper, Dance calendars, and garlic knots break the barrier between the artist and the Mexican-American audience. This piece spoke out to me more than the others because of the resemblance between the painting, and the culture of my family. Just like Garza, I also share memories of being surrounded by family and upholding family traditions. This image, not only does a great job of portraying a real representation of traditional Mexican culture, but also encourages pride for one’s culture.