Week 4: January 31, 2020

This week we started off class with a free draw/write. 

Then we watched a video of a speech Carmen Lomas Garza gave in D.C.

Here are a few questions to think about when reading and writing.

1. How does Garza include past legacies while present awareness of the present and the future in her paintings? Provide an example.
2. What is Garza’s “zoom in” method?
3. Why was the Quincentenary more controversial in the Americas compared to Europe? How did Garza contribute to the Chicana Reconquista of the event?
4. In the 1990’s Garza created children's books, why are these publications important to the Chicanx community? What does she include in them and why?
   
   
   
   
   
   We also were fortunate enough to have a guest speaker Ofelia Esparza. She told us about her upbringing in Los Angeles and how she was heavily influenced by the powerful woman in her life and her great great grandmother who passed down the traditions, especially of Dia de Los Muertos. She has made beautiful altars that tell stories about her family and Los Angeles. She has passed down her passion for art to her family and now her children, and grandchildren also practice art. 
   

Lopez, Paola (Paola)

Hello all, my name is Paola Lopez and I am the TA for this Chicana Art & Artists course offered at UCLA. Currently, I am a graduate student in the Latin American Studies MA program on our campus. I received my two B.A. in International Studies and Human Development at California State University Long Beach (CSULB). As a Latin Americanist and the daughter of two Mexican immigrants, I look forward to being part of this course, which focuses on artistic expression of the Chicana/o community. I am not an artist myself, however, do enjoy and follow several millenial Chicana artists through social media. Through preparation for this course, I have been introduced to a few modern artists of the mid and late 20th century. I am excited to hear and learn about the students' experiences with Chicana/o art and the artists they know or follow.