Robles, Harlow (Reflection)

As I reflect on when this class started, I remember thinking that I was going to learn about art and how to interpret it. I thought it wasn’t going to be that challenging or even life changing. Instead, when the class was asked to write a blog to introduce ourselves and to write about the article we read "why aren't there more female artist" the class became more interesting to me. Then when we were asked to make a Wikipedia page for an unknown Chicana artist, I thought to myself," What did I get into!" How am I going to make a wiki page, I’m not that good at using a computer! So as the class progressed and I did the readings, I realized a lot of things that I didn't know before about Chicano culture. I used to think that a Chicano was a Mexican born in America. I now know it's a Latino who does not have an Anglo-Saxon image of themselves. In addition, it's more than that. It's an attitude and way of life. Through the readings in the Yolanda and Carmen books. I saw both side: The activist side and the family side from a Chicana point of view. I didn't even know that Chicana's were not being recognized like their male counterparts. The reading really made me think about women rights and the struggles that Latinos have gone through to get where we are today, Chicana art is exactly what that represents. I am glad that I took this class because it helps me to understand that Chicana women have a voice too. I can hear them through their art. In the beginning of class, I also wondered why “There aren’t many female artist”. I think that now I know why. Thankfully with the wiki project, that question won’t have any significance.