Week 10 Blog Post

It has been a great pleasure to have taken this class this quarter and it has truly allowed me to grow artistically.  I have always enjoyed doodling but never thought of taking any actual classes to better my abilities. Over the past ten weeks, I have seen an improvement in my abilities and it's been such an amazing thing to see. My ability to draw hands has gotten way better over this quarter and I can proudly say that this class has given me a feeling of confidence because I honestly never thought I would be good enough, but I've come to learn how to trust myself. I really loved the way in which Professor Alma led lectures because she made them really interesting and I could see that she has a real passion for the arts and her community. This class has pushed me to see the ways in which I can use art to uplift my community. This class has introduced me to artists who used their art to relate to their communities and I hope that I can do that as well. This quarter has allowed my patience to grow especially when something did not come out the way I wanted it to, like my color wheel for example.

I would like to thank the Professor and TA for their hard work and for their ability to support us as students. This has been a pleasure and I'm looking forward to the future  Chicanx art courses I will take. 

Week 9 Presentations- Liliana Wilson

During the presentations that occurred on Week 8, I found myself feeling connected to Lilian Wilson's pieces because of how realistic and simple,yet  complicated they are. While the pieces looked as if they were just portraying regular individuals, the meanings behind the paintings were actually very political. I remember my classmate mentioning that one of the paintings depicted a young boy who had been murdered in Chile and that really stuck with me because the child was depicted very beautifully and he seemed at peace. I find myself being appealed by paintings that depict very powerful meanings in very gentle manners because they deliver their message without overwhelming the audience.

week 8 :Natalia Anciso

The artist that really made an impression on me was Natalia Anciso and her ability to make beautiful pieces from embroidery. What really caught my attention was the use of black and white tones when drawing people, but including some color through other subjects in her piece. This contrast between the color and the black and white allows me to draw my attention to one aspect of the piece at a time. My eyes immediately went to the black and white drawings because of how detailed they were and I found that the lack of color added a sense of urgency and seriousness to her work.
  I was also impacted by her pieces made on immigration due to it being an issue that really affects our communities. The facial expressions she drew on the families holding each other were so intense and she was able to capture the pain that is felt by so many families. There was sadness in her pieces and I think she was able to display this particular emotion very well.

Week 7 Blog Post

The artist that I have chosen for my presentation is Melanie Cervantes a Xicanx printmaker whose art really focuses on community. A lot of her work is centered around radical transformations of communities in struggles. Her work tackles issues of liberation, along with the patriarchy, exploitation and also centers around third world and indigenous movements  Because her work is heavily inspired and create for communities in struggle, the subjects in her work are not exclusively Xicanx. As shown in the image below, a lot of her art is inspired by other movements such as the movement for liberation in Palestine. This ability to create art for many communities is what makes her work very powerful for me as building solidarity is very important for many movements. I am very excited to present some more of Melanie's work with the class.

week 6 Stencil

For my stencil design, I decided on two hands holding each other, a symbol of solidarity. Solidarity is very important for many of our communities in struggle. Currently, the Wet'suwet'en people in Canada are defending their lands from a pipeline and they're just one example of a community in need of solidarity. So I decided to work on a stencil as a way to highlight the importance of solidarity between various communities. The connections and relationships we build with people are what give us the strength to move forward and continue to do what it is that we're doing. As history has shown us, there has always been some type of solidarity between members of different communities. If we simply focus on the issues in one community  without building connections with other communities , it weakens all of us. The stencil I've chosen symbolizes solidarity, friendships, and connections to each other.

Week 4 Ofelia Esparza

On Friday of Week 4, Ofelia Esparza, a well known Chicana artist gave a presentation on her artwork and some information on her childhood. She shared with us her family history with a particular focus on two very important womxn in her family, her great grandmother ( Mama Pola) and her mother. I found her love and respect for the womxn very heartwarming, especially because they are very much present in her work. One of the most beautiful ways to honor a person's memory is by constantly showing how they've impacted your life and displaying this knowledge to your community. To me, Ofelia does just that. She's taken what she's been given by her mother and turned it into beautiful art that will carry on not just her legacy, but her family's legacy for the rest of time.
     I wanted to talk about the painting of the young Zapatista girl with the rifle over her should because of the power it gives to the indigenous peoples south of the border currently in the struggle over their land. I recently attended a book talk for a book written by an indigenous organizer in Mexico and she said, "In a crowded street you can always tell who the Zapatista womxn are because they will always walk with their head held high and with a certainty of where they're going." And I was reminded of this statement when I saw Ofelia's painting because she depicted the young womxn with such power and autonomy.
    Ofelia explained some of the different mediums she's explored throughout her years as an artist and one thing that struck me was the fact that she is basically self-taught. This makes her relatable especially to someone like me, who's never received proper instruction up until now and to see a Chicana making beautiful work is truly inspiring. I found her artwork to be very comforting as if I were seeing a reflection of a community's culture and values. It was truly a wonderful experience to hear her stories about her childhood in East Los Angeles and about her journeys in her community.

week 4- Rasquachismo and Domesticana

Before reading Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology, my understanding of rasquachismo was a bit different than it was described in the reading. I had this understanding of rasquachismo as just this do-it-yourself attitude that a lot of Chicanxs had back in the 70s. I heard about a lot of Chicanx artists taking a bunch of disposable items and transforming them into great pieces and while that’s a part of rasquachismo, it’s not the entire aspect of it. Rasquachismo transcends into an attitude of resilience. By taking scraps and transforming them into something of beauty, Chicanxs are demonstrating their resilience and ability to build something from nothing. The reading mentioned rasquachismo as “making the most from the least” and this really resonated with me because that’s essentially what marginalized people have been doing for the longest time. Marginalized people have been taking what little they’ve been given and not just surviving, but thriving and building community. To me, Rasquachismo is an attitude that reflects resilience.

In all honesty, the concept of domesticana  is a bit more complex for me as I still feel like I don’t entirely know what it means. What I did get from the reading was that domesticana is like the female counterpart of rasquachismo that kind of has an emphasis on the domestic life of the Chicana. Domesticana is a resistance of the subjugation of women to these domestic spaces, so there is a spirit of resistance in domesticana work. Again, I could still use some clarification on the concept of domesticana. 

Week 3:Yolanda M. Lopez, Madre Mestiza

The piece Madre Mestiza by Yolanda M. Lopez is focused on an indigenous woman breastfeeding her child while wearing a garment worn by indigenous peoples. The woman is a modern Virgen de Guadalupe as she appears to be wearing the Virgen's cape and is standing on her altar. This image is a very powerful one that depicts resistance from both women and indigenous people. The act of breastfeeding so openly is often discouraged by those who are uncomfortable with the nudity. However, the bigger problem is the sexualization of the human body which was not happening among indigenous communities prior to colonization which is why the image is that much more powerful. The woman is breastfeeding an indigenous child, a symbol of future indigenous resistance, and she is doing so while standing of La Virgen's altar. The woman is not being covered up by a cape like the original Virgen demonstrating a rejection of "modesty" that is often associated with la Virgen.
    While I do find the image very powerful, I do have some concerns with the term mestizo/a.  I think this term has been used in colonial systems to implement systems of power similar to the term "Hispanic." However, I do understand why the term is continued to be used given the history of the Americas. Despite this, I find this to be one of the most captivating pieces by Yolanda.
Yolanda M. Lopez, Madre Mestiza, 1978, Mixed- media collage, Study for the Guadalupe series.

Cervantes, Melanie

The artist that I will be doing my presentation on is Melanie Cervantes who primarily works on printmaking. 

I found Alicia Gaspar de Aba’s article to be a great example of how spaces have to include the voices of many struggles and not just the dominant voices. It was very off-putting that out of all the pieces in the CARA exhibition, only a few of the pieces were created by women. It is not a matter of there not being enough Chicana artists, or Trans Chicanx artists, or queer Chicanx artists but it’s a matter of these artists not being visible to dominant society especially since they challenge dominant values.  This article touched upon issues that are present in the Chicano movement ( which Alicia Gaspar de Alba mentioned is accurate due to its patriarchal views) and the women's liberation movement. Both of these movements weren’t viewing the issues from an intersectional framework, excluding Chicana women from both. Which is why Third World Feminism is very critical because it encompasses the stories of many women of color who are working towards the liberation of women by using both racial issues, gender issues as well as other critical frameworks. I found this article really interesting because of the perspective in which the CARA exhibit was written. 

One question I have is: What was CARA's reaction to this article? 

Limeta,Gema (Gema)

Hi, y’all my name is Gema Limeta and my preferred pronouns are she, her, hers.  I am a third-year student majoring in Sociology and Chicanx Studies. Born and raised in Korea town and the daughter of indigenous migrants, I have taken an interest in the indigenous diaspora in Los Angeles, particularly the work and organizing they’ve done in their respective communities. I am especially drawn towards political art. 

    Although I have almost no experience with art myself, I understand the impact that art has on many communities in struggle. I hope this class broadens my knowledge of art as a tool of resistance for oppressed people. Although I am currently uninvolved in any research, I want to look at how people create art that stems from their experiences as members of marginalized communities. 

When discussing the history of the Chicano movement, the stories of womxn and queer folks can get lost and I think that the readings did a very good job of analyzing why that is. Looking back at the reading “There’s No Place Like Aztlan”, there was a lot of important analysis of the exclusion of womxn and queer folks in the Chicano movement even though they provided a lot of their labor to advance the movement. The readings are all connected with each other because they discussed very powerful Chicana artwork and gave me a better understanding of why art can be such a powerful tool, especially for people who have been consistently silenced. The reading of  “There’s No Place Like Aztlan” also made me ask myself if any new interpretation of Aztlan has risen since.