Final Blog Post :(

I am very happy that I took this class although it was out of my comfort zone. I had always been interested in learning about Chicana art and historicism so this class was perfect for me to take. The project that I loved the most was creating a cover for our sketch books. I was amazed last class to see our class sketch books all together against the board. It was very cool to see all the different art work my classmates had created and their reasoning behind them. I learned so much about my self in that I do not identify with being Chicana, but I do identify with the consciousness of being a Chicana.

I think taking classes outside of your comfort zone are the most important ones to take. I am glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone and took that class because I learned so much about Chicana art and artists. I wrote down names of artists that I loved during class presentations so that I could look them up later and try to get some of their art work to put on my walls in my room. I have also learned how much I love art and how it is a great stress reliever for me especially with being a full time student. I hope to continue doing art during the year with UCLA's Art club. They meet on Monday's @ Sunset Rec. You can do free art pieces! : )

Thank you so much Professor Lopez and my classmates for this unforgettable experience!

Chicana Printmakers

Chicana printmakers utilized printed visual art posters to combat issues of race, class and gender that were prominent during the Chicano Civil Right Movement. Sanchez writes about the duality between presence and absence. Presence meant the presence of women as printmakers, but the absence of women printmakers work being shown in exhibitions or workshops. Artist personal responsibilities, access to equipment, race/sex discrimination could be considered factors that aid in the absence of Chicana print work in public spaces. Artists such as Patssi Valdez, Linda Lucero, Yolanda M. Lopez, and Diane Gamboa to name a few illustrate within their print works Chicana symbolism such as cultural/ historical figures and an emphasis on self identity. I personally live the print work by Yolanda M. Lopez called, Who’s the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim? I liked this work because it combats the created knowledge about the America’s historicism.

Carmen Lomas Garza

Carmen Lomas Garza’s piece Quinceañera is one of my favorite works of hers. I loved this piece because I was able to be a participant in my friends Quince when I was in high school. The work shows the tradition event with the family gathering for her arrival at the church. I loved to comic relief Garza offered in the work by showing the kids running around being mischievous and the rest of her family members preparing for this important event. I liked to reference to Mexican American culture with the cool low rider car. 

It was a very new experience for me to participate in a Quinceañera. We had to learn a dance and attend many ceremonies with my friend’s family. It was very fun to be able to participate in such an important event that I would never be able to experience in my own culture. 

Letter to Judy Baca

I chose to do my artist presentation on you and your work because I found it amazing! My favorite mural that you have done is The Great Wall of LA. I visited the wall a couple years ago and was amazed that I had never heard of the wall prior to viewing it. You said that the wall offered a context of history of people of color that is often lost in the conventional history book. The cultural reference to the history of people of color in the mural is a topic that I have always grappled with. Many times reading history books as a child, I would question why my history began with slavery. My questions were always, Well where were my ancestors from before slavery? Creation a concept of a lost history through your murals enables that history can to revive itself and become anew. Encompassing knowledge of history into learning is an important part in knowing who you are. I have taken it upon myself to learn my lost history through family albums and online research. It is so exciting to be able to delve into my family’s past and figure out where I am from. I haven’t come to any conclusions yet, but I hope to continue my research to finding out more about my family history.

Response to Ashley Uvina on Carlee Fernandez

In response to Ashley on her post about Carlee Fernandez, I agree with her on Carlee’s statement that she is a Chicana but does not create Chicano art. I agree that Carlee’s Chicano roots became a new segment added to her life when she was finally beginning to have a relationship with her father. As a result, she didn’t feel connected in her Chicano roots to be proclaimed in Chicano artistry. I think Carlee’s points are valid in that everyone makes art for whatever reasons that is important to them. Who are we to justify any artist and say that should create their work in a certain way? That is why art is art! It is meant to confuse, start conversations, and create a space for people that don’t fit the “norm” of their cultures. Carlee’s struggles with identity are one that I believe we all face within ourselves. I found it courageous for Carlee to admit her disconnects to her Chicano roots and her strives to create works to reconnect to her past.

I feel in many ways I can connect to Carlee's struggle with identity in that my own African history is still unknown to me. I have traced back my family lineage to my great- great grandparents who were slaves in Georgia, but I always wonder where my family was before. I know there is an answer but there is also now a bigger question. As a person of color, why is most of our history unknown to us? 

Laura Aguilar

The presentation on the Latina artist Laura Aguilar really sparked my interest. Laura's photographs encompassing her own naked  body is truly a difference in her work among other artists we have learned about thus far. I loved how her photos incorporate landscape scenes that in many ways connect the naked body to land. I liked this photograph where she is acting as a rock in the landscape. Her body's curves and lines mimics the other rocks in the photo. To me, encompassing her body into the landscape reinforces that people of Latin descent will always have a historical connection to land.

I also love Laura's emphasis of body peace. She uses her own body in her work as a way of not only embracing her self and her own body but to help viewers of her works to embrace and love their bodies as well. We live in a very body conscious society and for me to see Laura's work emphasizing body peace is very revolutionary in itself.

Week 4: Presenter's Artist: Passti Valdez

I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation on Patssi Valdez. I connected with Patssi's artistry with her interest in fashion because I am also interested in fashion. Fashion has been my own artistry since I was a little girl. I would make clothes for my Barbie dolls until eventually I could make clothes for myself. Patssi's use of unconventional materials such as paper to create beautiful fashion pieces is very interesting to me.

I loved the image that was shown of the display of her garments that she created from paper. I loved how her other design ascetics are incorporated into her fashion works by doing screen printing and painting. I liked the other images that were shown in the presentation especially the performance piece. Performance pieces are also interesting to me because spectators rarely know that their reactions are a part of the performance as well. Such as from Patssi’s performance piece, spectators were very confused and didn’t know what to think of the work.  I also liked that Patssi's work is linked with social activism with the artist collective that she founded called ASCO. I think it was important to Patssi to make art with a purpose. Her purpose was to create socially conscience art works to represent her Chicano community. 

Stencil: Tupac

The icon/symbol that I chose for my stencil was Tupac. I chose Tupac because of the impact he and his music has had not only me but the African American community as a whole. I remember listening to Tupac growing up as a child. I would listen to his music on the radio while my brother and sister were outside playing. I loved that the stencil that I chose had the word “art” in the image because in my opinion I will always think of Tupac as not only a great rapper but a great artist. In many ways I relate to Tupac’s artistry because I am a lover of art as well. I make my own clothes and hope to own a fashion line one day with my twin sister. I try to make art a part of my everyday lifestyle through my clothing. I get inspired by how other people dress and pictures that I see on Tumblr. I love Tupac’s life story in which he discussed throughout his songs. Though Tupac is longer alive, his lyrics still permeate within our society today where new rap artists try to imitate him and his creative styles.  Although to me, there will only be one Tupac Shakur. 

Week 2 Post: Keep Ya Head Up

by: Eduardo Kobria in Rio De Janerio, Brazil

I never grew up with the image of La Virgen de Guadalupe. So I chose a person who became a prominent icon of activism within the African American community.

An important icon within my family, community, and culture was the hip hop rapper named Tupac Shakur also know as 2pac, Pac, and Makaveli. He became an important image within the African American community because of his critiques of the social and economic status of not only African Americans but of U.S. society as a whole. I grew up listening to Tupac songs while I was a child.

Tupac was born in East Harlem, New York but eventually moved to Marin City, California. It was in Marin City where his hip hop career took flight. The lyrics of his numerous hits such Dear Mama and Keep Ya Head Up, made Tupac impact the hearts and minds of his listeners. Tupac and his influence has been reinterpreted by a number of new rappers such as Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West. Many rappers of today continue to reflect on Tupac and his impact of words to inspiring them within their own rap careers. Sadly, Tupac’s career took a turn for the worst when he was killed at the age of 25 due to gang violence. Even today rumors still claim that Tupac may still be alive.

Not only do rappers today still commemorate Tupac but art muralists have put his image within their murals such as one done by Eduardo Kobria in Rio De Janerio, Brazil. Tupac impacted not only the hip hop game and art world but his image, lyrics, and political stances still influence our world today. 

Goodwin, Charmaine

Hello, my name is Charmaine Goodwin. I am a fourth year Gender studies major.

In, “Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore’s Mask” I made relative connections to the Chicana movement and the feminist movement. The Chicana movement revolving around political and self awareness accompanies the symbol of La Virgen de Guadalupe but with feminist aesthetics. Why was it important for Chicana feminists to re-image La Virgen de Guadalupe? In conjunction, why was reclaiming the female body in art forms important? Barbara Carrasco’s work, Pregnant Woman in a ball of yarn embodies the Chicana movement strides to reclaim motherhood for oppressed pregnant women. Is reclaiming the female body still important in Chicana art works?

“There’s No Place like Aztlán” began with a great introduction with the comparison to the Wizard of Oz. Do racial politics add in to the Wizard of Oz comparison to Aztlán? Why is Aztlán a cultural myth rather than actual land? Would the importance of Aztlán change if it was land that could be found? How does the myth relate to colonization of native lands? Can connections be made between a lost sense of pre-colonial history between Chicanos/as and other history of people of color? 

Artist for Presentation: Judy Baca

I would like to do my presentation on Judy Baca. I was fortune enough to view one of her works in person thus analyzing her work further would be an incredible honor!