Week 9: Linda Vallejo Reaction

The artist I enjoyed most during the second week of presentations was Linda Vallejo, presented by our classmate Jiaxin Guo. Jiaxin Guo presented Linda Vallejo as an independent, strong Chicana artist based out of Texas that works in multiple mediums like sculpture, ceramics, and painting; but the primary material presented were paintings. Linda Vallejo grew up in a military family that traveled and lived all over the country and Europe where trying to find an individual identity most likely was very hard but I believe that maybe living in multiple places was more of an asset to her rather than a curse. As Jiaxin Guo stated, having lived in multiple cultures and areas she could adopt the different styles and themes, this being most apparent in one of her pieces titled “Eternal Seed” 2000, the use of different light colours that blend together to create a reverse silhouette of a woman gives me the immediate sense of freedom and self love. Also at first glance it gave me the sense of walking through a valley of flowers most likely due to the greens, yellows, and pinks that dominate the canvas Also drawing on the “Seed” aspect maybe the seed could be interpreted as knowledge, femininity, indigeneity or maybe all three being “Eternal” virtues that could be carried and and displayed no matter age, time, or setting. I really enjoyed the diversity of the artist from very dark colours to very light colours like the art work stated above. I enjoyed the artist and the presenter both equally and I’m glad I was able to discover this prominent Chicana artist.