Argueza, Leigh Anne

 

    Hello everyone! My name is Leigh Anne Argueza (pronounced lā-æn or lay-anne), and I am a first generation Filipino immigrant, third year Art History transfer student from Monterey, California. My preferred pronouns are She/Her/Hers. My interest for this course originates from my previous internship with a local artist, historian, and ethnologist Dick Crispo. He was a former Mexican folk art history lecturer for the Instituto Allende located in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Under his guidance, I was able to provide artistic support, creative input on commissioned works, contributed curatorial recommendations for group and solo projects, and helped organize community mural projects for Palenke Arts, a nonprofit inclusive multicultural arts organization that supported a wide range of age demographics.

    The four years I volunteered at Palenke Arts with my mentor has allowed me to provide a multitude of artistic outlets for my local community and apply the knowledge I have gained through my time spent in courses taken in higher educational institutions. The courses I have taken at my previous institution were admittedly limited to a Westernized version of art history. I am anticipating taking every opportunity afforded to me during my time at UCLA to further satiate my appetite for the exploration of the diversity of cultures and artists that have inspired and challenged the world. And despite taking every art history course at my previous institution, I was never able to specifically focus on Chicana/x and Central American Studies due to semester time constraints. Thankfully the time spent with my mentor exposed me to some Chicana/x artists like David Alfaro Siquerios and Cordelia Urueta Sierra, and I hope to continue learning more about past and contemporary Chicana/x artists.

    In regards to the reading material for this week, I found my interests piqued when I read Sybil Venegas’s “Conditions for producing chicana art” because it shared similarities of my own experiences growing up in a Filipino household where the family patriarchy is heavily ingrained and rarely shifted, which was less than surprising. As someone who is part of a large family that saw a rare shift in my family’s hierarchy through my mother’s assimilation to Western culture and inheritance as a sole provider for her family, I found myself going back and forth comparing her resilience to those in the reading material. During this quarter, I look forward to gaining more insight into the development of the Chicana/x community and culture that inspired various artists that are currently navigating, exposing, and actively responding to the themes of their lives. I am excited to continue collaborating online and learning with you all this Fall!