Yolanda Gonzalez

My artist I am doing my paper and presentation on is the multi-media artist-- but mostly painter-- Yolanda Gonzalez. She is a Southern California local and went to school after being a hairdresser at the Pasadena Arts Center. Her works include but are not limited to sketches in color and black and white, paintings in oil and acrylic, ceramics, sculptures and more. She uses vivid coloring and deep tones when creating her works and it is one of the things which hi appreciate most because it just makes her art so interesting to look at an allows for you to discover new things with each time you look. 

When I wrote my paper and did my presentation I focused on three of her works, one of which is her Creation de Amor, a painting work on a wooden angel sculpture as part of a collection of painted angels for an exhibition celebrating the centennial of the CCF, which they commissioned 30 artists from los Angeles to represent the diversity within our community and the beauty within these differences. 

I truly love the way her work was contrasted off another artist's sculptural piece and it felt like a layering of rich ideas and meanings and histories behind the works, much like how Los Angeles is an incredibly diverse, rich and multifaceted city. 

Stencil

For my stencil project, I chose to do a crescent moon and the stars. When looking at it is is a symbol seen in many countries and religions, such as for the flag of Turkey and for Algeria and more, but I had added more than one star to my stencil and they are not five pointed stars. I was initially drawn to the idea of stars nestled within the arch of a moon as the stencil subject because all my life I have been completely fascinated by the sky, constellations and stars. Not just stars visually, but their forms as well, as giant gasses, and the process of a supernova and everything just seemed so amazing and so large and out of the world (literally). So, when I couldn't really think of anything else, I decided a crescent moon and the stars would work just fine. I had not originally decided on a crescent moon until I realized with my first stencil attempt that a full moon would look like a ball, or be very hard to stencil with shadows whereas a crescent moon is easier to tell its meaning from the shape without having to try and cut shadows or anything.
The moon is something I relate to energies, and is often times related to our horoscopes and there is an idea of a moon sign and a sun sign and while I am not well versed in horoscopes and zodiacs, its something I have recently gained more interest in and so it holds relevancy to my life in this regard as a nod to the moon sign. Moon signs are more specific than just your zodiac, they are meant to help you with understanding and decoding your emotions, feelings, tendencies, traits and more, and is something people use to help understand themselves and their lives around them. I think it is an interesting process and with my recent increase in interest I have been checking my horoscopes and often times the things which are said are relevant, and it is nice to have it.

Week 10

This class has truly been a joy for me to be a part of and an opportunity for me to learn more about a subject which I did not know that much about. I have a strong appreciation for the arts, as a World Arts and Cultures major, and I have taken a few Chicana classes during my time at UCLA but I still did not know many Chicana artists, their works and their stories and this class has helped me to work on changing and educating myself.
When I first enrolled in this class, I did not know what to expect, but I have been so impressed and just so grateful to have been able to take WAC Chicana Art and Artists. When I first enrolled in UCLA as my major, I had come from an artistically involved high school career and was sort of let down with the disconnect I felt as an artist with art in my academic classes. I was unable to enroll in photography classes since I was not a fine arts major, and I was unwilling to switch majors considering my passion for WAC. Everyone told me double majoring was not an easy process to do and to just wait a year or two before thinking and making decisions. Of course I did not end up double majoring, something which I know makes sense for my course load but saddens me for a lack of artistic exploration in my current classes. And so I had not been sure what this class would entail, but I did not think we would physically exercising our creativity as well. I am glad we had the chance to, and the chance to work with various subjects and techniques, and it has helped me feel more connected to art in an academic setting as one of the surprisingly seldom WAC classes which requires artistic works.

week 9

The presentation which I remember the most is Barbara Carrasco's because I had visited to Natural History Museum many times last year and she had a room dedicated there to her mural Sin Censura, a Mural Remembers Los Angeles. It had originally been intended as a public presentation but because it included acknowledgments to history such as internment camps, and general violence which has occurred in Los Angeles, people did not want it shown, or if it was to be shown to remove these important and real parts of our history. The Natural History Museum, years later made a very bold move in presenting the work in its own room, a move which I view as a step in the right direction as an insinuation founded off of colonialism and the structures in place from conquest and othering of people.
I respect Carrasco and have been a big admirer of her works and so this presentation was extremely interesting to me and the artistic process and struggle she has endured before her work sort to started gaining popularity and even now which she goes through is incredible and truly shows how amazing of an artist and person she is. when you look at her works she has really taken a stance and stood unwavering despite controversy and despite her works being hidden from the public eye due to them, and it is a testament of the importance of her work.
She was actually the artist I wished to talk about because I have a prior understanding of her works but I am glad I did not because it allowed me the chance to learn more about Yolanda Gonzalez and to see Carrasco presented from a different perspective than the thoughts I have and the history I have of discussing her works.

Presentation Artist Post

The artist from the presentations which stuck the most with me wac Monica Kim Garza the painter who was born in 1988. She was presented by Koryn Gomez and I think the reason this artist stuck with me was how she presented on the artist and really stood out with the fun nature of the works and I just felt like it was cool to have an artist who was just painting what she wanted, and making fun works and this is something which I sometimes forget is an option. When I consider art I get so entrapped within the notion of how a piece is meant to be understood, its context and history, the meaning behind it that I can see and the meaning which the artist feels, and its intended and actual impact. I get caught up situating works within a landscape of comparisons and sometimes I forget its not really necessary. This collection was sort of a breath of fresh air because it was important and held meaning of course, but also contained a more fun attitude and it was refreshing to see and remind myself that art can hold a multitude of different meanings and that it is sometimes just looking at the piece before trying to impose ideas that can be interesting. In all honesty I do not entirely remember if this painting was shown in class as one of the three selected but when looking through her collection of works online, this one was my favorite. It is for sale through a gallery in Copenhagen and is titled Tennis. It was made in 2019 by silkscreen print and is an edition of 30. We have seen art in class before that is part of a printed collection, making it more accessible to buyers and more quantity wise, so I enjoy seeing prints of things. This one is for sale for $330.

Week 5 Carmen lomas Garza Painting

The work I am choosing to write on is Cumpleaños de Lala y Tudi by Carmen Lomas Garza. It was made in 1989 with oil on canvas. it is 36 x 48 inches.

To contextualize this work, Garza is painting this based off a memory she has of her and her brother having a birthday celebration, with the two piñatas one the flower for her and the fish for her brother. Her and her brother are situate between the fish piñata and the flower one, watching as a blindfolded girl is in the middle with the bat to take a swing at the fish in the hopes of breaking in and releasing the candy for all the surrounding kids. She creates a memory, one likable to other families, mostly people in the Chicanx or Latinx communities. She transforms the ordinary shared experiences not a work of art, showcasing it, creating a process of memory through art, representations through a positive childhood experience.
A significant thing Garza does with her artworks is create, through a positive way, a resistance to the erasure and lack of representation of Latinx and Chicanx people and women and their histories through positive representations, or memories and events not typically portrayed in art. She shows her experiences, bringing awareness and representation to her community, and this work is one example.

Rasquachismo and Domesticana, Presentation Artist

Rasquachismo- This comes from the word Rasquache, and before this class I did not really know what it meant. From the readings and class discussions, however, I have learned its rich meaning, its history and the complexity it holds. There was the originating intention behind the word as more of an insult, something with a negative connotation where someone who was Rasquachismo was part of a lower socio-economic group, had less things, and thus had to utilize scraps, etc. Now, there is a reinvention of the word, and metamorphosis into a symbol of resilience which is palpable in the Chicanx and Latinx communities. As marginalized communities in the United States, being Rasquachismo means you make the most of the situation at hand, you are resourceful, creative fast thinking and strong. You create from little, and are able to transform things and situations. It is beautiful in its rejection of accepting things as is, it's a process of making more for yourself, your family and your community. In art, it's creating works with intent and meaning and having to be creative to work with what you have. It's something to be proud of, not something to be ashamed of, as the word might have made someone feel badly in the past. I also think this word is geared towards men more often than women but I am not too knowledgable on this. I believe though that Rasquachismo is more often used when it comes to Chicanx and Latinx men while Domesticana is typically linked with women. 

Domesticana- I had also not been familiar with this term until this quarter, and I believe it draws similar roots from Rasquachismo. I think initially it had a negative connotation, drawing from a degradation of women's arts in mediums which were considered more domestic, more folkloric. I thin it is through the process of Chicanx and Latinx women reclaiming the word and using it as a form of challenging these ideologies that Domesticana has been reborn. From my understanding it is a process of art making which challenges traditional domestic roles for women, invites conversation, and introduces deeper thinking on things which would not otherwise be seen or discussed. These things would be day-to-day experiences or places or ideas of Chicanx women, presenting perspectives and points of view which otherwise would not be seen. It's seems like a process of reclamation of space and voice. 


The presentation artist I want to work on is the painter Yolanda Gonzalez. I do not believe anyone has said they wish to focus on her, if they did I am able to change to someone else, I do not think that anyone chose her though. 

2020KamgarLucy Week 2

This blog for week two was due the 23rd of January but I was unable to access the blog until today so I am making up the missed posts. One Yolanda Lopez image which struck me is the one within her series of her mother, and it is titled Margaret F. Stewart: Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

Yolanda M. López, Margert F. Stewart: Our Lady of Guadalupe, from the Guadalupe series, 1978. 

Oil on pastel on paper, 22 x 30 inches. 

https://www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/LopezGuide.pdf 

Her reimagined Virgen de Guadalupe is truly outstanding, and I love this specific one on her mother for a variety of reasons. I feel this depiction of a woman, working hard, the tolls of her job weighing down on her and reflected in her expression is symbolic, representative and powerful. There does not seem to be a beautification of López's mothers work, it is a representation showing what it truly looks like. And yet, her background shines the brightest of all the works, with vibrant yellows, oranges and reds, showing her love for her mother and the power in this painting. Yet, there is a beauty in her mother, not a traditional beauty but it is still there, and I have a hard time describing it but I feel like there is beauty in her mother's strength, there is beauty in her mother's gesture, sewing the navy star studded cloak her daughter wears in the accompanying image and that her mother sits upon in the third work. 

This beauty present is one not typically shown in depictions of women, and women of color. I think, for the most part, there are not many -or at least when these works were made- representations of  women of color in art, media and just in general, and the depictions seen can more often than not be of a specific type of woman who is young, thin, feminine, attractive etc. This creates a vacuum where women of color do not typically see themselves or their diversity represented, and López's series shows different types of women, doing different things, looking different ways and of different ages, and it helps to create a multiplicity of perspective and representation. It, I imagine, also helps to represent other women who see themselves in these works, or see women they know reflected, and perhaps helps to open dialogue to continue creating works and showing more diversity in representation through art. It helps to shift the narrative of women of color into one which fosters more of what women really look like, and I think it is extremely important. 

2020KamgarLucy 1st post

Unfortunately I was unable to access this blog until this week so I will be making up these posts today. This is in response to the first post prompt which was originally due January 10th. My name is Lucy Kamgar, I prefer She/Her/Hers, I am a World Arts and Cultures third year undergraduate and I am interested in learning more about Chicana arts, art activists and history. 

 

(Me, 2019 at the Carlsbad Flower Fields)

This class interested me when I was searching for courses to enroll in by its name, Chicana Art and Artists. I love my major, this is a class within my major, and I felt this would be a class which could appeal to me in two main aspects. Not only does it focus on Chicana people and their works, it is an arts focused class. I have taken a few Chicana classes at UCLA and I enjoyed both of them but I still do not feel as if I know that much about Chicana Art and Artists and their presence within the community, and I think it is extremely important to learn and become aware of these artists and their works and this class hopefully will help me in my process of learning. In all honesty I do not know much about art history in general and so I have made it a goal to take as many classes as possible which can tell me more about the history of art and mediums and artists, and so this is one of the classes which I wanted to take to teach me more.

And, within my major, I do not get the chance to work creatively with art such as sketching and watercolor and so this is extremely interesting and exciting for me. I am able to creatively express myself through our sketchbook, learn and refine skills and practice with mediums I do not really have much history with. This is extremely exciting to me, and a fun new way to interact within a class setting. 

The class readings for this week sort of intimidated me because they all seemed scholarly and lengthy, but this is something I have begun to acclimate towards over the years at UCLA. All classes seem to engage with articles of similar length and intimidating appearance, and I'm not entirely sure if I should include this in the blog post or not, but oh well.