Reflection Post

Looking back on this quarter, I can say that I do not regret taking this course. I decided to join the class during week 2 or 3 because I was having trouble with my schedule. Before enrolling I knew I really needed to take this class because of the art making component. I deeply enjoying drawing and having sketchbook assignments as homework sounded great. So I made the rest of my schedule work around this class as best as possible. I was behind on the class assignments but I still enjoyed the work that I was doing and the knowledge I was gaining. I was not aware of how many Chicano artists there are and from a variety of styles. But I learned more about art through the sketchbook. Making art and really getting that hands on experience made what we were learning during lecture and readings that much more real. I learned that art requires a lot of patience and less self-criticism. I never liked drawing hands because they were so difficult but now I feel a bit more confident in drawing them because I was pushed outside of my comfort zone. Also, I had no idea that water color pencils existed! It was really fun to paint with the water brush. I find watercolor very intimidating because I believe it requires a lot of skill to control something as fluid as water. However, since I was already pushed outside of my comfort zone by drawing hands then, now I hope to have more courage to indulge creating more watercolor art. Thank you so much Profe for giving me the opportunity to combine my love for the arts with academia. It was truly an inspiring class as I learned about the many Chicana artists and the guest speakers who are currently working with art and academia; made me consider a career in art more seriously.

Extra Credit

Earlier this quarter, a couple of classmates and I, went to check out The Arts of Tenochtitlan exhibition at LACMA. I found it amazing how we were able to see such artifacts here in the US even though they originated from Mexico.

So, the first picture on the upper left hand corner shows a funerary urn. The figure is either a deity or an ancestor. It is wearing a snake mask with the tongue being the prominent feature. The headdress it is wearing refers to maize. What is interesting about this is that these are commonly found in Oaxaca but this one was found in Mexico City, formerly known as Tenochtitlan. Then it was transferred to the US, so I think it is amazing how strong the artifact is since it is able to endure such exportations.

The second image on the top right hand corner is a stone skull surrounded by "folded paper". This artifact was found near the central altar of the Sun Plaza which is in front of the Sun Pyramid (LACMA). The bio provided by LACMA states that it might be a precedent of Mictlantecuhtli which is the Aztec skeletal death deity. What is interesting about this piece is that the nose is actually a hole where a blade could be placed.

Finally, the bottom left image is of a mural of a figure with claws. You can't really see from the picture but up close, it was very beautiful because of its intricacy. The figure has a prominent mouth of which a scroll comes out of. This indicates that the speech or song is a prayer (LACMA).

Presentation: Favianna Rodriguez

For the second week of presentations, I chose to discuss Favianna Rodriguez. She is an admirable artivist (artist and activist). She was born in Fruitvale, CA 1978. She is of Afro-Peruvian descent. I chose this artist because I had already seen her art, I just did not know the artist's name. Rodriguez's art is commonly seen and used for modern activism for the undocumented Latinx community, particularly the butterfly featured above. Besides the fact that her art is so familiar to me, I also think it is very beautiful. She uses a lot of shapes and colors. The images are outlined with bold black lines which I think only make the colors pop a lot more since they contrast with the black lines. What I like about the shapes is that they are not just random shapes. The shapes are used to emphasize facial features on the people that she draws. For example, the nose is very prominent because even the nostril is exaggerated. Even the butterfly has the same style. The shapes used to make up the butterfly wings are also used to make the faces.

Presentation: Diane Gamboa

Out of all the artists that we saw during week 8, Diane Gamboa's art stood out the most to me. Gamboa is from East Los Angeles. According to our classmate, Gamboa already had an art exhibit at merely the age of five. That is very young age to have accomplished something like that; I know it was not something like the art exhibits we see in museums but the mere fact that she knew what she wanted and that she made it happen is very admirable. Further into her career as an adult, Gamboa began including her interest of tattoos into her artwork. Gamboa has many tattoos of her own so it is understandable that she would also incorporate them in her art. If you think about it, Gamboa's own body can be considered a canvas as it holds her tattoos as art pieces. Interestingly enough, Gamboa started off as a photographer. This image in particular was quite captivating to me because of the colors and drawing style. A lot (if not all) of Gamboa's art shows her characters' gender as ambiguous. She paints these figures as showing both feminine and masculine characteristics. I like this very much because it shows the fluidity of gender and challenges the gender binary. Her art questions what is typically accepted as identifiers for men and women. The ambiguity in her work shows that there are not strict rules for such. She also took on the idea of reclaiming our own narratives as Chicanx. Mexicans are commonly called aliens so she also paints her figures in such a manner. The beings in her art not only resemble gender fluidity but also depictions of extra terrestrials.

Yolanda M. Lopez

I find this image by Yolanda M. Lopez very interesting. It is an oil painting of herself as the Virgen de Guadalupe but in a different pose. During college, Lopez was in the track team so she decided to paint the Virgin as a runner in order to make this significant figure more personal. This image comes from a series of three different depictions of La Virgen, each including a different generation of her family. The other two paintings include her grandmother and her mother as the models for the depiction of the Virgin. Lopez did this reimagining of the Virgin in order to honor the working class women. This image in particular is an homage to herself. She is still wearing a dress but it flutters above her knees as she runs allowing us to see her very strong thighs and calves. She is also wearing tennis shoes and is running over the little angel that typically holds the Virgin. I like this imagery because it symbolizes that this mujer cannot be confined.

CARA

Learning about the Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation (CARA) exhibition was both amazing yet problematic, overall inspiring. I admire the fact that Chicano artists made space for their own narratives to be showcased in spaces that are predominantly white. In a non-inclusive space these Chicano artists were able to challenge the Eurocentric art spaces. It shows that we as Chicanos also have a voice and it is loud enough to make sure it is heard by even those who do not want to hear it. However, even within this success there remains another layer of oppression. The Chicano movement works towards social justice in terms of race that it disregards the injustices in terms of gender, sexuality, etc. This notion is reaffirmed even with the title of the exhibition which states "Chicano" as oppose to any other gender inclusive variation of the term. Evidently, the issue of misogyny remains within the Chicanx community. Machismo prevails when la raza does not address the particular issues and accomplishments of mujeres. In the CARA exhibition, very few art pieces were made by women. Although the Chicano voice was being heard in a white space, the feminist voice was being silenced by the patriarchal voice. Through Professor Gaspar de Alba's presentation, I believe that we were able to understand why and how important the female perspective is. I found it interesting how in class when Professor Gaspar de Alba asked for those of us who identify as feminists to raise our hands, only the women raised their hands. A couple of men then shared that they do not feel comfortable with that label because they thought that it was not meant for them. They felt that if they were to consider themselves feminists then they would be taking up space that was not meant for them. However, Professor Gaspar de Alba clarified that that was not necessarily the case. Anyone, regardless of gender, can identify as a feminist if their views and actions are aligned with the movement.

Chicana Sexuality and Gender by Debra J. Black

In this book, Debra J. Black analyzed the portrayal of iconic Mexican women such as La Virgencita, La Llorona, and La Malinche. These figures are so significant to our Mexican culture that one hardly questions their implications. However, Black reconstructs these female characters through a stronger and more feminist lens. She does so by interviewing working class women and professional women.
What she found was that these iconic figures actually have some kind of bad rep. For example, La Llorona is looked down upon because she murdered her own children and then would not stop weeping over it. This creates a case narrative of women as being crazy or overly sensitive. The reconfiguration of this figure can be as someone who is calling out for her lost children, regardless of whether or not she murdered them. So, from a positive lens, she can be seen as someone calling out to her children as guidance if they are lost. La Virgencita is a prominent religious symbol so she is seen as very pure and holy. Any altercation to her appearance is considered a defamation to the Catholic Church. This is why it is so controversial for artists to recreate her image in different styles. But, the purpose for doing so is to free her from the restrictions and limitations enforced onto her by men. Most modern depictions of La Virgencita reveal her body from under the shall and gown in order to liberate her gender and sexuality.  The one I found most interesting was La Malinche. She is considered a traitor to the Aztec Empire because she was Hernan Cortes' translator. However, what is commonly not taken into account of that narrative is that she was forced to be his translator and he raped her. So, even though the real victim was La Malinche, she still gets blamed for the mishaps. What Black did was analyze the machista narratives of women, as such, and reconfigure their story to empower them and other women, specifically Mexicanas/Chicanas.

Presentation: Ana Mendieta

Ana Mendieta was born in Havana, Cuba on November 18, 1948. (Fun fact: my birthday is November 17). However, at the age of 12, she and her sister were then sent to the United States as refugees. Their parents believed that this was in their best interest in order to escape the dictatorship of Fidel Castro. Operation Peter Pan was a program for unaccompanied minors to migrate from Cuba to the US. With this program, Ana and her sister were able to migrate to Florida and then Iowa where they were placed in foster homes. Their mother and brother eventually reunited with them in Iowa. But, their father was reunited after spending about a decade in a political prison. 

Being torn apart from her homeland and family and forced to make it on her own in a different country, made Mendieta's childhood quite traumatizing. However, she did not take it as a setback. Instead, Mendieta decided to express these feelings and experiences through her art. She is known as a performance artist, sculpture artist, painter, and video artist. It was in college where she developed an interest for spiritual and religious topics which became the central focus of her art. Her artwork also focuses on violence towards women. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA and MA in painting and a MFA in intermedia. Generally, her artwork was autobiographical or in response to a situation.

Mendieta died in New York City, New York on September 8, 1985. She was only 36 years old and she was doing really well in her career as an artist. Her death became controversial when it was declared an accident or possibly suicide. Mendieta had not shown any signs of suicidal behavior and she was actually quite happy because of how well her career was going. However, her husband, Carl Andre, minimalist artist, was not doing as well. Moments before Mendieta fell 34 floors out of her apartment window and onto her death, neighbors heard the couple arguing. When the police questioned Andre, they noticed fresh scratches on his arms and nose and his statement differed from what he had said on the phone earlier when he called in the "accident". He was charged with second degree murder but after three years of legal proceedings, he was acquitted. Fellow artists and friends of Mendieta retaliated by protesting at Andre's exhibits. There was much uproar over the controversy of her death.

Castillo, Evelyn

Hello, my name is Evelyn Castillo and my preferred pronouns are she/her/hers. I am majoring in Chicanx Studies and minoring in LGBTQ Studies. Although I am walking this Spring 2018, I am still coming back for the summer to take one more class (well two in order to get full-time student financial aid).
Anyways, I was born in Santa Ana, raised primarily in San Diego, and now I am getting my college education in Los Angeles.

I decided to take this course because art has always been a space for me to intersect my Chicanidad and queerness. I have always been able to appreciate art but it became much more significant when I started making it for myself. Because I had already been so fond of art, I decided to express my own feelings and ideas through it, whether it be drawing, painting, or performing.

I am looking forward to learn more about other Chicana artists and their art. Maybe they will serve as a source of inspiration for my own art.