Throughout this course, we’ve explored and learned about many Latina artists. Among all the artists, my favorite was Carmen Lomas Garza. Carmen Lomas Garza is a Chicana artist who specializes in paintings, paper cutouts and sketches. Through her art, she tells a captivating tale about family, love, community and culture. Garza is the first Chicana artist I’ve come across who fully embraces and celebrates her heritage and it’s customs through visual art. I love her use of colors and her attention to detail. Most notably, her paintings leave a lasting impression on me due to their whimsical and dreamy appearance. I especially enjoyed seeing her artworks and reading her life story in the book Carmen Lomas Garza by Constance Cortez. The book beautifully summarized Garza’s hardships, influences and artistic journey. In fact, it helped me appreciate Garza’s art even more by providing insight into her backstory and artistic influences.
As for concepts/ topics, I heavily enjoyed learning about the renditions of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Before taking this course, I was unaware of the politics and identity issues surrounding the Virgin of Guadalupe. I used to think that she was only associated with religion, but now I see that she’s also a cultural symbol for many members of the Latinx community. This shift in perspective occurred due to all the readings and discussions we had on the Virgin of Guadalupe, which I heavily enjoyed. I also loved seeing the Virgin of Guadalupe pieces by Yolanda M. Lopez and Alma Lopez and reading about the public’s reaction to them. It was definitely interesting to learn about the strong, negative responses people had to the unconventional fashioning/ imaging of Guadalupe. Personally, I love Yolanda’s and Alma’s Guadalupe pieces and I appreciate how they present Latinas as strong, powerful, fierce and independent women.
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| Camas para Suenos by Carmen Lomas Garza |
Hi Lizbeth! I agree with both of your points immensely, before this class I had seen some Chicana art in passing but I was not able to identify a particular artist before. I am glad that we were able to learn about Yolanda M. Lopez and Carmen Lomas Garza, as well as our Prof. Lopez, not just the art but the experiences it created. From now on I will definitely be more involved and look for Chicana artists that not only create amazing art but art I can relate to. As for la Virgen, I was amazed at how much I liked the symbolism behind using her in art. I am not a very religious person, although I do respect la Virgen, but I would say the art we witnessed in this class and the motives these artists had when using her image truly resonated with me. I would say that it truly made me become closer with la Virgen, even. Overall, I appreciate the knowledge this class provided and I know it won't be the last I ever see of Chicana art.
ReplyDeleteHey Lizbeth, great work! Carmen Lomas Garza was also an artist o loved learning about! I see your picture of Camas Para Suenos, when I saw this piece, I was immediately moved by how much it connected to my childhood. Growing up I used to think nothing was interesting about my childhood all my rich friends would talk about going to Disneyland for the weekend and all I could talk about was spending the weekend at my abuelas. And just like you mentioned an aspect in Garza's work you enjoyed was the embracement of her heritage seen in Camas Para Suenos. Seeing this work artistically highlight what I used to think was mundane made me feel a sense of pride and joy for the experiences I had growing up!
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