Reflection

These past ten weeks have gone by so fast. I came in the class not knowing more than 4 Chicana Artists. When Professor Lopez quized us on how many we knew I knew over 10 Chicana Artists. After the class I thought wow we know more than 50 so I was impressed even though I couldn't recall them during the quiz. What I liked was how someone in class mentioned that we not only know the artists name but we also know the artist background and work. I really enjoyed the presentations! I never thought that I would see a whole new perspective or as Blake calls is a reimagining of La Virgen de Guadalupe or La Malinche. I also never thought that I would grow as an artist and get better. I now know that I can get better by practicing everyday. I really look forward to taking more Chicana classes. I also look forward to drawing more often, because drawing like Pola and Alma said it's like therapy. Overall, I am glad that I took this class! I am even thinking on double majoring or minoring in Chicana Chicano Studies. I will take the knowledge that I gained in this course and apply it to my future Chicana Chicano Studies courses.

My Thanksgiving a la Carmen Lomas Garza

This Thanksgiving my family and I had another intimate dinner. Thanksgiving in my family means giving thanks to god for what we have. This year my sister said a prayer before we ate. My mother forced us to say a prayer, eventhough we didn't want to. My little sister helped my mom look for a Thanksgiving prayer online and my mom found one. My older sister came to my mom's house to cook with us. I really missed Mexican food so we made tamales, pozole and barbacoa. I love cheese tamales so I made those while my sisters made chicken ones. I was really happy that I cooked with my sisters and my mom. I also had a good time catching up with my older sister. Her boyfriend came over and ate some of the Alfredo pasta we had cooked. I was excited to drink my mom's ponche and arroz con leche. I really like how Carmen Lomas Garza paints her family experiences and I also drew my own family experience. I painted with watercolors to also give it that Carmen Lomas Garza effect. Carmen Lomas Garza depicts Mexican culture which is my culture as well, and it takes me back to my childhood memories.

Blog Week 7- Presentations

          Lillian Abedi presented on Barbara Carrasco. One of the images that sparked my interest was Carrasco's L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective, 1981. What I liked was how Carrasco presented different images from history. Some of the images that I see throughout the womans hair include the Japanese American internment, the Zoot Suit Riots...etc. I also like how not only one ethnics group is presented in the mural. I remember Abedi stating how Carrasco consulted historians for her mural which adds to the credibility of her mural. What was shocking was that the mural was up for two weeks because according to the government the mural was too critical of Americas historical events. These events happened in history, so for the government to hide Americas history states that they are not only ashamed of it, but that they dont want a constant reminder of it as well. What I also liked was that Carrasco earned job opportunites after the popularity of her mural. A mural that comes to mind that is similar to Carrasco's mural is Bacca's Great Wall of Los Angeles, which also tells the history and perspective of minority groups. One of the images that I believe was presented in class was Migrant California, which depicts a migrant family. Behind the family there are differents flags, which represent where migrant families immigrate from. Both of these murals tell the true events in history that happened in America and also tell the perspectives of different ethnic groups. 

Carmen Lomas Garza

     My favorite image from Constance Cortez, Carmen Lomas Garza is on chapter three "A Tejana on the West Coast" and its titled Tamalada. Tamalda is an oil on linen mounted on wood and is 24x 32 inches. I really liked this image because it reminded me of my Christmas childhood memories. I remember when my family would come together and make tamales just like Garza's family. I also had the task of soaking the hojas or leaves in a tub of hot water just like Garza. Now my mother, sisters and I get together to prepare the tamales. I now have the task of spreading the masa or cornmeal dough onto the hojas which I really like. I also really like making tamales with my family even though it does take a long time to prepare them. I also chosed this image because Garza uses imagery to show others the process of how tamales are made. Cortez states that the father and his daughter by the doorway is another one of Garza's experiences or childhood memories. In this particular memory the mans position refers to how Garza's father would teach her family how to dance. I really like the idea of Garza showing us more than one of her childhood memories through her art. 

Blog Post Week 5: Stencil

   The stencil on the front cover of my notebook represents my family. My mother is on the left side and my father is on the right. My mother is hugging my siblings Gladys, Jessica and me. My father is on the right side and he is hugging my siblings Michelle, Maggie, and Oscar. My mothers heart is shattered to represent the hearbreaks that my father has put her through and the struggles she has overcame. I put my mothers image first because she is my hero and I believe she is stronger than my father. I put a stencil of thorns dripping blood to represent the problems and hardships of my family. On the other side I put rose stencils to represent the solutions and happy memories that we have shared as a family. My family means everything to me and I felt that my stencils should showcase what is important to me. 
     The stencil on the back of my notebook is a tree. I thought about putting a tree stencil to represent the knowledge that I have acquired through out the years. It looks like the branches are barely growing and thats what I love. I believe that I still need to learn much more. I am working on a bird stencil that I will place above the tree or maybe on top of it. The bird to me means the independence that I want to achieve and the freedom that I have gained through education. I looked up and modified these stencils, carved them on a manila folder then painted the stencils over onto my notebook.

"Aqui Estoy" by Laura Alvarez

“Aquì Estoy”, acrylic, watercolor on paper, ink, Plexi Glas on wood panel, 1999

          I was very astonished with Laura Alvarez's Double Agent Sirvienta (DAS) career. I am really glad that she presented her life with the class because it really helped me understand her art. I thought that it was very interesting how her childhood was very different compared to that of her cousins. Alvarez stated that she and her brother were the only ones that would go and visit her family from Mexico and were the only ones that spoke Spanish. In her series Double Agent Sirvienta, she presented connections between her life and her artwork. For example, her mother was a maid and her character Remedios was also a sirvienta (maid). Alvarez shared with the class that when she was a kid she loved to play spy with her brother and realized that this was due to the fact that her father worked for the government. Alvarez's DAS is a combination of her mother and her father as a spy. 

       The painting that I have choosen is titled "Aqui Estoy". I chosed this painting because of the lyrics that are painted around the sirvienta and the bird. Some of the lyrics in Alvarez song state, "Aqui estoy sin instruciones porque me han abandonando..corriendo down the hallways... de esta casa exclusiva". I believe that the lyrics portray how the DAS feels regarding her job. The bird might represent how the DAS has gained her freedom as being a spy, or how she felt traped like a bird in a cage when she pretended to be a sirvienta. In Blake's Chicana Sexuality and Gender, she claims that images like the contrast of the traditional Virgen de Guadalupe, artist like Yolanda Lopez use their art as a way to empower women. Alvarez has done the same by combining both of her parents jobs and using her art to empower them and create something original. 

Blog Post, Week 3 : Shifra Goldman

Figure 46. Yolanda M. Lopez, The Nanny, from Women's Work Is Never Done series,
1994. Mixed - media installation.

         Goldman discusses the movement of Chicano art in her essay "The Iconography of Chicano Self- Determination: Race, Ethnicity, and Class", which lead to a discovering of Chicanos identity.  Goldman discusses the history of Mexican peoples and points out that Mexico had a relationship or as she states "mingled" with Pueblo Indians of New Mexico in the section of race. Muralist Antonio Bernal depicts an indigenous heritage, and Mexican and African- American activists. Chicano artists reflected and illustrated North American Indians since they were also oppressed. Goldman defines ethnicity as, " set of activities, traits, customs, rituals...by the members of a given national/ ethnic group" (169). Goldman mentions that Anglo- Americans not only colonized Mexican territory but  also destroyed their culture. Anglos attacked Mexican culture through stereotypes, language..etc. Class was a very important aspect for Chicano artists. For example, Chicano muralist Emigdio Vasquez paints a rancher, migrant crop pickers, miners..etc. Class along with ethnicity,race, and gender were important for Chicano artists to express in their work since the outcome led to a self- identity and determination. 

The image that I have selected is titled The Nanny by Yolanda Lopez. Lopez created this image which showcased how Mexican culure was being degraded by white women and the media. The color women in both of the posters are vendors. In the center is a nanny uniform which represents labor. Yolanda Lopez creates art that revealed the oppression that Chicana and Mexican women dealt with such as gender, ethnicity, nationality..ect. She is challenging these views in order for Chicana women and Mexican women to take a different stance in their lives or challenge these positions.
Through her art, Lopez is able to investigate not only her identity, but the identity and self- determination of Chicana and Latinas everywhere. 

Questions for Professor Gaspar de Alba

1. Essay 1:  “Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore’s Mask: The Mirror of Malinchismo”

Why did Chicanos view Chicana feminist as "men-haters", "lesbians"...etc? 

This question came to mind because I felt that Chicanos would be informed about why it was important for a Chicana to be a feminist. It also angered me because after professor Gaspar de Alba's presentation, I considered myself a feminist. Professor Gaspar de Alba stated in "There's No Place Like Aztlan: Embodied Aesthetics in Chicana Art" that Chicano leaders belived that Chicana feminists were a threat to "beliefs and values of la familia"(128). I can see how Chicanos can see how Chicanas are a threat to values of ones family because I am reminded of art that expresses feminists empowerment such as Yolanda M. Lopez, Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe. I have showed my mother some Chicana art that expresses feminist empowerment throught the change of the Virgin of Guadalupe and my mother has stated that her beliefs go against changing the Virgins look. I believe that this has a lot to do with ones religion and culture.

2. Essay # 2 "There's No Place Like Aztlán: Embodied Aesthetics in Chicana Art"

How did the concept of The Wizard of Oz came to your mind in terms of the connection that you made related to Aztlan? 

As I read the article I was a bit confused about why I was reading the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy finding her identity. When I kept on reading I saw the connection between Dorothy and Aztlan and how both Chicano/a artists and Dorothy go through a journey in a their own homeland. I never thought about how Chicanos /as dealt with the problem of identity or place of origin.

Isidoro, Rosalva

 

At the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles

     My name is Rosalva Isidoro, and my nickname is Rosie. I was born and raised in South Central, Los Angeles. I have four sisters and one brother.  Both of my parents are from Puebla, Mexico. I transferred from Santa Monica College. I am an English major. I am one of three from my family who have pursued higher education. 

   I am really interested in the course because I would like to learn and be exposed to Chicana artists. I feel that when I was listing artists names on the board I kept on hearing famous museum artists and that is something that I relate to. I realized that these kinds of artists are the only ones that I have been exposed to. I hope to get exposed to Chicana artists and also understand the reasons behind their art.

   I grew up Catholic therefore, the Virgen of Guadalupe has always been present in my life. I rememeber my mom buying a lot of the Virgen of Guadalupe's merch for example candles, photos...etc. I did know the story of the Virgen of Guadalupe but not the whole story. My mother, I would say would not be pleased with the way that Chicanas have painted the Virgen as a form of experience, or awareness. However, I feel that if I were to explain to my mother the meaning behind it she would understand. Recently my mother bought a light up frame of the Virgen of Guadalupe. The fact that the Virgen of Guadalupe has been prevalent in my home and in my life this whole time and I had never noticed is something that I find really astonishing. I really like that I am getting a different perspective on la Virgen de Guadalupe and her history.

Pola Lopez

I have chosen Pola Lopez as my artist because
I really love the colors and vividness of her paintings.