Blog Post: Week 7

I chose to talk about the artist Graciela Iturbide and her piece titled Cholas. This piece really stood out to me because of the way the individuals in the picture decided to present themselves. The piece contains four women and a baby, and the women are throwing gang signs in front of wall with three icons. The presenter explained that the artist who took the picture allowed them to pose however they felt like and wherever they wanted to, and they decided to pose in a very confident way. The women in the picture pose in a very proud and poised manner, I feel that they don’t care how anyone looks at them. They are proud of who they are, and they want the viewer to know that. I also remember the presenter mention that the women in the picture did not know who the figures on the wall were. However, to the women it didn’t matter who the men on the wall were, it is about them and them showing the viewer who they are and the gang they are apart of. I feel that this image demonstrates the empowerment of these women because they decided to pose in a manner that they felt comfortable with and in front of a wall that was iconic, yet they did not know the individuals on the wall but it doesn’t matter because it is about them and nothing else. Graciela allowed them to present themselves how they pleased and through that she allowed us to experience a small portion of the lives of these women.

Carmen Lomas Garza is one of the most successful and best-known Chicana artists working in the United States. Carmen grew up in the small South Texas community of Kingsville, daughter of Maria and Mucio Garza. She was the second of five children and it was her mother that instilled the dream of becoming an artist, by painting watercolors and lottery tablets when Carmen was young. Garza's work celebrates the activities and traditions of her family and her community in Texas, and her works are found in the holdings of major museums throughout the United States. The piece Barbacoa para Cumpleańos, in the Chapter "Carmen Versus The Future" is from 1993 that is alkyd on canvass and 36 by 48 inches, shows the birthday celebration of Carmen's sister, Mary Jane. The piece shows cultural identity through the Pińata, the papel picado, and the barbacoa. Cortez writes, " For the artist and her patrons, the images embraced the possibility of sustaining these cultural practices and introducing them to younger generations. Garza realized that her work could serve as a catalyst for the childhood memories of others." This piece brings up childhood memories to certain viewers; through this image I can remember the many birthday parties of mine and the ones I attended too. Carmen realized that her art provoked many to recall from their childhood memories, and also allowed the younger generation to view the culture and to embrace it.

Blog Post 5: Stencil

The images on my sketchbook are a rose and the LA Dodgers Logo. I created the rose stencil by drawing a quick sketch of a rose on the manila folder and then cutting out the petals and leaving a bridge in between them. The rose personally represents my family, specifically my mom and my three sisters. I selected to do a rose because my family is really important to me, and it reminds me of them now that I am away from home. The reminder of my family also serves as extra motivation to my studies here at UCLA.

I created the LA Dodgers logo by drawing the logo on the manila folder and then cutting it out. I forgot to create a bridge for the logo, so I had to scratch of some of the paint once it was on my sketchbook to make the logo accurate. The LA logo personally represents where I grew up and the love of sports. I grew up in Los Angeles and I am a huge Lakers fan and pretty much a fan of any team that plays for Los Angeles (except the Clippers). The rose and the LA logo really serve as reminder of my family and where I am from, overall I am very satisfied on how my sketchbook came out!

Blog Post 4: Laura Alvarez

The image I selected I believe is titled Robot Bird, and is a drawing on paper. The piece consists of a Double Agent Sirveinta (DAS) who seems to be in action throwing what seems to be a robot bird. The inspiration behind many of Laura's work is derived from Laura's upbringing and family/personal background; she also believes that art should be personal. This piece is very personal in the sense that the theme of DAS, arose through her father and mother. Laura's father is a war veteran and worked a very mysterious job as Laura was growing up and her mother was a maid and she at times worked along her mother's side cleaning houses.  The mystery of her fathers work sparked the interest of creating a secret agent character and the work of her mother also aided to the creation. Laura's imagination also credits to the creation of the world of DAS a 20-year project so far. Laura isn’t only creating artwork for her characters, she is also creating music and film that supports or works together with the artwork.  I believe that Laura is able to challenge traditional notion. She does so by creating many works of art that feature a maid, who is a secret agent, a women who is empowering and who is clearly not your conventional maid.

Week Three Post

This Victoria F. Franco series 4 of 4, mixed- medial collage, 18x15 inches piece by Yolanda Lopez shows her rasquache sensibility. The piece is a drawing of her grandmother and she incorporates a mixture of what seems to be newspaper and magazine cut outs as the body of her grandmother. The way she grew up and the practices of her family all shaped and influenced her artistic approach. The rasquache sensibility arose through the class status Yolanda and her family lived under. The use of non-traditional supplies and practices also simultaneously challenged the Eurocentric notions of fine art.

The essay The Iconography of Chicano Self-Determination: Race, Ethnicity, and Class, showed the many recurring themes that Chicano and Chicana art illustrate through their art to address race, ethnicity, and class. The essay also illustrates certain artists who have taken an affirmative stance celebrating race, ethnicity, and class. The paper addressed the racism that aided to the subjection of many races.  One of the artists featured in the readings was Antonio Bernal, who constructed a mural. The mural had many features of acknowledgement of race. The dark skinned characters in the mural admired leaders of the Mexican revolution and present  to illustrate the detachment from the Spanish lineage by a high emphasis and stress on the dark-skinned indigenous heritage. The piece also gave homage to activist women and suggested the alliance between Mexicans and the African-American civil-rights movement.