Week 3- Lily Paden (Artist: Yolanda Gonzalez)

 

I would like to write a Wikepedia page and present on the artist Yolanda Gonzalez. Yolanda is a Chicano artist who currently runs the MA Gallery space in East Los Angeles. This space serves as both an art studio for Yolanda as well as a classroom where she teaches painting and ceramics classes. MA Art Space was established over 25 years ago for Yolanda, and she still uses it today. She has noted she likes to use this space to empower other artists.

Yolanda was born in Pasadena, California in a Mexican family, many of whom were also artists. The both sculptor and painter was extremely talented from a young age and when she reached high school, her teachers encouraged her to pursue being an artist after graduation. She studied art at the Pasadena College of Art and Design and has since traveled all over the world to create commission pieces in the last few years. She also teaches art class for underprivileged children at Inner City Arts. This information was found at the journal article http://www.janm.org/exhibits/ffs/gallery/gonzalez/gonzalez.html .

Her pieces often feature bright and eye-catching colors, and she commonly does portraits of people. Some of these people are her own family members, as she likes to create pieces that connect her with her heritage. From a young age, she began painting indigenous women alongside her grandmother, which she has noted as some of her greatest memories. 

In 2015, Yolanda was featured in an artist feature news article for Self Help Graphics and Art for making the cover of American Association of Retired Persons, and her artwork was featured on numerous busses and bus shelters. Her news article feature can be found at https://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/blog/tag/yolanda+gonzalez .

The photo below is Yolanda's artwork on a Los Angeles metro train that was featured on behalf of the AARP.