Week 10 Reflection

This course has been different than my other courses because I heard my peers express their emotions and experiences on topics. This is different than my typical science classes, which focus on facts and statistics. I have enjoyed this class very much because I felt like even though my peers and I have had different experiences, we can still connect and support each other. Professor Alma Lopez has been very supportive and encouraging throughout the ten weeks. My favorite part about this class has been the sketchbooks because I found this very therapeutic. I like how the first week, Professor Alma Lopez told us to draw without looking at the paper. Although my work looks nothing like a hand, I still thought the message behind the work was deep. We are too focused on how objects or people are supposed to look based on societal expectations. Instead, Professor Lopez advised us to “draw what we see.” 

Another aspect of this course that I enjoyed is reading the books assigned for this class and writing the short papers about each artist. I do not have much experience with Chicana artists and their different acts of resistance. I loved understanding how each artist portrayed their art and why they did it like that. For example, Yolanda M. López created her own definition of Chicana beauty through her self-portraits and the independence women need from patriarchy and Catholicism. Carmen Lomas Garza portrayed personal experiences with family members, locations and traditions. Alvarez Muñoz contributed her artwork to the struggles of migration, work and language of immigrants. These women are all very well-known Chicana artists who created their own definitions of Chicana artwork. I believe a major lesson I learned from this class is that we all have different experiences that affect how we produce art. Instead of being embarrassed of these previous experiences, we should embrace them because they have made us the person we are today. Therefore, our artworks are a reflection of who we are and what message we hope to carry to an audience.