Moore, Jessica

Hi everyone, my name is Jessica Moore and I am a 4th year Communications Major. My preferred pronouns are she/her. I transferred to UCLA from Los Angeles Valley College in the fall of 2016, but my college education actually began back in 2006. I studied Theater at Middle Tennessee State University for two semesters before deciding to leave school and make the move to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Five years ago, I decided I wanted to finish my education and here I am!
Beyond attending school I am also a blogger myself, but I focus on fashion and lifestyle. I consider fashion a form of self expression and a way to tell your own story through what you wear. Participating in a collaborative blog is something new for me, but I am excited to try it this quarter. I am excited to take this class because I love art and wanted to explore an area of art that I probably wouldn't get the chance to learn about otherwise. I wouldn't say that women have been ignored in the arts per say, but they definitely aren't celebrated in the mainstream as much as men, especially when you are speaking about women in a minority group, such as latinas. I am also really excited for the artistic portion of this class because I used to love to draw and sketch, but lost it a little bit in the last couple years in the midst of how busy life can get.
The reading for this week was very interesting to me, and while many aspects of the information was eye-opening, other aspects did not come as much of a surprise. Up until doing this reading and then also seeing the exercise that Professor Lopez illustrated in the beginning of class, I never really gave much thought to the fact that most of the "great" artists you know and remember or are widely recognized in society are men, typically white and middle class. Even though these white male artists usually get all the glory, I see no shortage of females who are producing art, but they aren't as successful.
Part of this discrepancy used to be due to the limitations placed on females based on the education they were able to recieve as far as artistic instruction went, such as not being able to participate in studying the nude form, which is a quintessential part of art and much of the reason why people like Michaelangelo and Da Vinci are so lauded because of their ability to create a lifelike form. Today I think this manifests itself in a different way. One way I've observed even in my own circle has to do with films. Some of my male friends are much less inclined to go see a film if the lead character is a female. They will make some sort of comment but I think what it comes down to is a lot of men just don't want to invest in a female-driven story. I think the same can be true also for female musicians; men are more inclined to gravitate to male driven bands rather than female. This sort of attitude, coupled with the systematic disadvantages women face, is a huge factor in why female artists are not as widespread or well-known as male artists.