Extra Credit: Stencil Workshop

On Friday, 18 May 2018, I went to the 2018 Q Scholars Undergraduate Research Symposium event and the topic of the event is “The Power of Storytelling: Exploring, Resilience, Resistance, and Struggle in Queer Narratives. I attended the Stencil-making Workshop which was held by Professor Alma Lopez and her spouse, Professor Gaspar de Alba. There were around 8 participants of the workshop, each with different backgrounds. Some were Chicanx descent and some were not. Professor Gaspar de Alba started the workshop by asking us to do a 5-minute free-writing about who we are right now. I used those 5 minutes focusing on writing who I am and where I am right now, independent of my past. Five minutes passed by and Professor Gaspar de Alba told us to pick 3 words that highlight our free-writing and use those 3 words for our stencils.

I chose to do a silhouette of a palm tree because of how much LA has changed my life. Professor Alma Lopez guided us step-by-step starting from drawing on a blank paper, transferring the drawing on a plastic paper, cutting the shape using x-acto knife, and finally painting the stencil. I chose to color my palm tree silhouette in yellow and orange to represent sunset since Los Angeles is identical with palm trees and sunset. I did two layers of each color because the colors were too transparent at first. While waiting for the paint to dry, I looked at Professor Gaspar de Alba’s stencil. She drew a coyote and wrote "coyolteadas" underneath the drawing. She then put the stencil on top of a plain black t-shirt and painted it in baby blue. After waiting a couple of minutes to let the paint dry, I finally pulled the excess plastic paper off and my stencil is finished.