Gutierrez, Kimberly (Week 10 reflection)

    This course has given me the opportunity to learn more about Chicana and Latina artists, working in all different forms of mediums. Additionally, I enjoyed the presentations as it was another great way to learn about new inspiring Chicana artists—I found them to be informative and enlightening. Prior to taking this class, I was not aware of many Chicana/Latina artists and the class, it definitely has allowed me to broaden my knowledge. As an art student who is studying photography, I was further unaware of other Chicana photographers such as Laura Aguilar, even though we did not get to learn much about her work, I was able to do research on her and learn more about her photographic series. Furthermore, an artist whose work I also enjoyed learning about was the work of Yolanda Lopez with her Virgen de Guadalupe series. Yolanda’s drawings were all beautiful to look at and thought it was compelling how she did portraits of her mother and grandmother that were in an uplifting, yet inspiring way. I also thought it was interesting how she used a different material than ordinary drawing paper. Yolanda used paper that is initially used for wrapping meat, which was a creative way. Another work that I absolutely loved was her ‘Walking Guadalupe,’ (1978) artwork in how she portrayed the Virgen de Guadalupe in such an elevating as well as uplifting manner. Although the work was perceived to be controversial, it received a lot of great recognition in regards to the meaning behind the painting. I am glad I was able to learn about her art practice as Yolanda Lopez’s work was all incredibly moving and enjoyed how many of her art pieces touched base with political and social issues. Ultimately, this was a great course and definitely gave me great exposure to many unique Chicana/Latina artists.