Reflection

When I think about day one of this course, I had no idea what to expect. Although I had previously taken a Chicano studies class, I had no knowledge of any Chicano/Chicana artists. I am not such a great artist at all, although I do enjoy coloring. My drawing skills that I came in with were not good at all and I cant say that I am a perfect drawer now, but I could say that I learned things about drawing and colors that I didn’t know about before and I would have never learned anywhere else. Its also cool how I learned about the different types of way to produce art through shading, water color and cutting stencils with an x-acto knife.

Another thing, the artists we learned about were such cool and they ranged from sculpture artists to photographers. Like the first day, when you asked us to name artists, we couldn’t name even ten. On the last day of class, we named fifty-two artists and like I mentioned in class its not that I can simply mention so many artists, I can talk to a friend about some of these artists. I learned about my artist so well but I also learned about many others as well.

My thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is always a special time, where I associate it spending quality time with my family. It is kind of one of the vey few days in which everyone is home and it’s such a joyful time. My grandma loves to cook, and in my Persian Jewish culture we have huge family dinners every Friday night, but the reason thanksgiving is different is because we get to spend the whole day together with everyone as opposed to just one night. I always tell my grandma every week, “Why did you make so much food? This is too much, you’re tiring yourself out!” and every week she tells me that not only does this not tire her out, but gives her more life because she feels so blessed to be able to have all this food to put on her table, and her big family to share it with. Thanksgiving lets everyone take part in one thing and come together to enjoy it. My grandmother cooked a huge turkey; I made the desserts, my mom and aunt made different side dishes. We spent the day, and had thanksgiving dinner at my aunts. The picture I decided to draw is one of my mom and brother taking a break in the yard, relaxing with a few snacks and spending quality time together.  I thought it was such a beautiful moment; they were so relaxed and happy. This thanksgiving is sort of the first thanksgiving that all the grandchildren are old enough to understand what thanksgiving really means, so we decided we are going to go through all twenty-five people and each person is going to say what they are thankful for no matter how big or small. Although my drawing skills are definitely not the best, I hope I got the picture across!

Week 8 Blog Natalia Anciso

While watching Roxanne Morrison present, all her photos were so intriguing and interesting, but one specifically really caught my eye. She presented on the works of Natalia Anciso, and my favorite piece was “Don’t Shoot.” I really liked all her pieces for many reasons. Firstly, I really like the messaged portrayed in all her images. Secondly I really enjoyed the way she has her pieces colored. Its very faint, and simple, yet so eye catching. In this picture we see a young boy, who truthfully in my eyes looks to be no older than ten years of age, surrendering to this military men. These officers are dressed and geared up for war with their masks, helmets, bullet proof vests, and heavy fire arms. The police are so focused on their task to “take down” the target of interest; they have lost sight that it is simply a little boy standing in front of them. It reminds me of the many cases of police mistreating innocent citizens.  Although this photo is black and white, with the exception of the flowers, it also brings to light how dark skinned citizens deal with innocently being either arrested or murdered due to their skin color. This boy is posing no threat to the much larger, well equipped police men, yet its as if their finger is about to pull the trigger.  She also, vey creatively, meshed the police taping with the flowers almost like a wreath around the boy, to honor those innocently murdered by the wrongdoing of the police.

Blog week 7

The artist  I decided to talk about for blog 7 is Laura Aguilar.  Watching her video, I was very drawn to what she was saying, and how she was saying it. Body language sometimes, is more powerful and  louder than any word or message one can say. Although it was a shock to see what she was presenting it took a minute for me to fully grasp what message she was trying to get across. Im going to be honest and say that at first, I was slightly uncomfortable because what she does is so out of the norm, but then after listening to her and watching her I realized what a revelation she had. She of course, suffered with depressed and extreme self-confidence issues, but she took charge and fought for herself. She made us look at the human body in a different way than what is usually displayed and portrayed. In my opinion it is probably one of the hardest things to dig yourself out of the hole that is depression. I myself, like anyone else, have bad days, where I don’t feel my smartest, prettiest, or happiest, and I find it so hard to go through it alone. I typically try to go out and talk to some people who comfort me and talk to me in order for me to get out of the rut I was in. So the fact that she stood so strong, and fought for herself, and dragged herself out of her own rut, is something so honorable. In this picture, she is trying to make herself be as small as she can. Maybe hiding within herself, to protect herself and its nice to see both aspects of her battles. This one where she is crouched down and huddled, and others where she is more open and free.

Week 6 Blog-Carmen

Looking through Carmen's book I stopped at this picture, looked at it for a while and so many thoughts came to my mind. Many of her paintings are composed of memories of her childhood and her days growing up. I picked Cakewalk, 1987. Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 inches. Carmen placed herself in this piece, remembering a fundraiser her community had. They were raising money for Mexican Americans; all the community came together for a cause they supported. I really like how the whole communities, young and old, have joined together. There are kids playing around, a beautiful table being set up, and families playing the cake walk game. I also could connect to this piece because like her community, I feel like this with my own community as well. In the Persian Jewish community, togetherness and family are a top priority, and I feel Carmen’s community was like that too when they gathered to raise money for the students to be able to go to University. When there is a cause that needs to be supported, everyone will put whatever he or she is doing down and come help whomever is in need. The strong force of a community is enough to take on anything. 

Sketchbook Cover-Jasmine Flower

For my sketchbook cover I used and drew a picture of a Jasmine flower. It’s a white flower with the most alluring scent. The Jasmine flower developed in Iran and has had a great history there. My family, who was born and raised in Iran, always had a connection with this small white flower and its scent. This flower reminds me of my grandmother who always tells me stories of how she would use this flower as a perfume and would keep them in her pockets or purse. Now, my grandpa always has Jasmine flowers around him. He planted them in his home, keeps them in a bowl on his table, keeps them in his car, and his pocket, he tells me it reminds him of his younger years, when he first met my grandma. The scent has such a peaceful attribute to it, so when I thought of something meaningful, this flower popped up in my mind and I knew I had to use it. This flower means family to me; more specifically this flower is my connection to my grandparents. I am fortunate enough to still have them in my life, and in fact I have a very special bond with them. The scent will always remind me of them and if I ever run into a Jasmine bush when I’m driving or taking a walk, I have pulled over to pick some off and take them with me in my car or purse. I found a picture of a perfect single flower, drew it onto my manila folder, and carefully cut it out into my stencil and used the white paint to transfer it onto my sketchbook.