Final Blog

Interestingly, I decided to take this class on a whim super last minute and I am glad that I did. Going into the quarter, I had no idea what to expect, considering that this happened to be one of my first art classes I have ever taken in my life. I have had friends who have warned me about taking any art classes at the university level. They would tell me they were extremely boring art history classes and that there is no element of actually learning how to create art. It was such a lovely surprise when I found out that we were going to get to draw as a part of the class element!

Taking away from this class, I was not only able to improve my hand sketching skills, but also was able to learn about some extremely important women who are detrimental to the representation of Latinas and are phenomenal artists. I learned about their versions of history through their unconventional art work and I am grateful to have learned about them. I am not an artist and I know seldom about other artists but thanks to this class, I can name at least ten Chicana artists off the top of my head. Some of my favorite artists were Yolanda Lopez, Laura Alvarez, and Carmen Lomas Garza. These women revealed to me a whole new side of understanding art. I indulged in the idea that an illustration is not always what it seems to be blatantly depicting. There is always a hidden meaning behind most art works and I’ve learned to find the fun in looking for it. I had such a great time in this class, thank you!

Week 9: Carmen L. Garza Thanksgiving

For my Carmen Lomas Garza inspired drawing I decided to draw my family at the dinner table during our Thanksgiving dinner. This thanksgiving was a bit interesting this year around. Typically, every year we have a huge thanksgiving dinner with relatives and close friends. Usually three to four different families are assigned o bring a different dish (including dessert), sort of like a potluck! While we wait for everyone to arrive to the reserved banquet room, we have strobe lights set up for the kids to dance and also sing a little karaoke. But this year, we decided to keep our dinner relatively simple.  We had dinner with my immediate family and instead of your typical turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy; we substituted it with a delicious Mexican dish called “tinga” with homemade flour tortillas. What I noticed from Garza’s work is that she includes every detail and is extremely vivid, so I tried to recreate that same illusion that she has created for us! My illustration is an exact replica (to the best of my ability) of how my dining room was set up.  I included my two sisters, parents, my abuelita, and of course my two dogs! Although my thanksgiving was only shared with my immediate family, it was really intimate and heartwarming, especially considering that I have been away at school for a while. Hope you like it!

Isis Rodriguez

The artist that caught my attention was Isis Rodriguez. I was especially surprised when I found out she had been a stripper for ten years. Considering the fact that a job of stripper or exotic dancer does not usually come across as the most respectable job, I began to think how this artist contributed back to the Chicano/a community. From the presentation I really liked the photo called Be All That You Can Be, 1996, Acrylic Gouache, Ink of Bristol 15”x23”. Depicted are six female figures dressed in varied costumes posing very confidently and fiercely. “Women find a character that suits them best, that gives them respect and honor in a community and advances them toward self sufficiency,” Rodriguez says in her statement. What I understood from this painting was that women come from different backgrounds and regardless of what you wear or what you look like, you should not feel obligated to feel ashamed of what you do and/or hide from the public eye. So that’s what Rodriguez did, she gave a voice to those who are usually forgotten about—in this case: strippers. Rodriguez helped me see that strip clubs are a place of “profound humanity”. You can see the empowerment, vulnerability, the rewards, the consequences, the drugs, and the determination of everyday people. Essentially, a strip club can be seen as the epitome of humankind as they face everyday elements commonly found within a society.

Week 7: Laura Aguilar

The Chicana artist that caught my attention was Laura Aguilar. In my honest opinion, the photo (to the left) was so raw and explicitly revealing, it really had a shocking effect on me. My deduction as to why her photo had such a jaw-dropping effect on me has to do with my distorted perception of beauty promoted within media. As a society, we are constantly being exposed to the idea that beauty should be standardized—that there’s a threshold every female must reach in order to be acknowledged and praised. Sadly, our media majorly influences and blindly conditions us to believe that beauty is black and white; skinny is attractive and fat is horrendous. There is no gray area. This can lead to a series of negative effects on female ideology such as depression and/or eating disorders. Aguilar’s photo is not something you typically see on a cover of Teen Magazine or CoverGirl. In my opinion, the nudity and unusual positions essentially serve as a symbol of confidence she has come to terms with her body. As for this being shot in a nature related background, Aguilar also incorporates the idea that we naturally come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes, we should be grateful with what have at that very moment. This photo reminded me that beauty is socially constructed and that it should not be monolithically standardized.

Carmen Lomas Garza

 In Carmen Lomas Garza by Constance Cortez states that a lot of her paintings are enthused by childhood memories “that celebrate her everyday activities and traditions of her family and her community”(Cortez, 1). She gives three images that have been inspired by past memories but one example that caught my attention was La Feria en Reynosa, 1987. It is a gouache on cotton paper, 20x28 inches. This colorful and lively image was based on the time when Garza went to a fair with her friends in Reynosa, a town near the Mexican border. She depicts three booths that seem to be selling goods brought from Mexico. There are merchants, musicians, parents and children crowding the image and each person is frozen in time in their own little world. Much like a photograph except this painting has much more symbolism within it because Garza painted each memorable detail by hand. Cortez argues that the signs on the refreshment booths offer the idea of cultural hybridity, a reoccurring theme found within her works. I really liked the term cultural hybridity mentioned by Cortez because, from what I understood, it exemplifies the typical lifestyle Garza most likely lived in, being from conservative Texas and having Mexican descent. This painting of her trip with her friends reaffirms her dual cultural practice.

Stencil Design

       For my cover book image I decided to stencil out a sugar skull. Sugar skulls are mainly made to adorn altars and tombs in accordance with the celebration of Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos. This holiday is more commonly celebrated in central southern Mexico on November 1^st and 2^nd to honor deceased loved ones. I was first introduced to this celebration through my high school Spanish class when we had to create an ofrenda for a project. I was fascinated by the entirety of the holiday. Not only is it a beautiful way to celebrate death but also the decor itself is so colorful and fun! The sugar skulls have always drawn the most attention to me and so recently while I was at an art store, I had come across a sugar skull stencil. This led to the inspiration in creating my own stencil for my book cover with the manila folder. First I drew the outline for the skull in pencil. Then came the second (and hardest) part—cutting! At first, the sugar skull idea seemed brilliant but after the second hour of using the exacto knife, I had briefly regretted choosing such an elaborate image. Although it took a really long time to finish, I am extremely happy with the outcome! I Can’t wait to use it on other surfaces back home!