Intro

Week 1 intro

Hello class, my name is Jacob Skarr and I go by the pronouns he, him, and his. There is no other particular name for a name, unless people just call me by my last name. Here at the University of California, Los Angeles I am a third year economics major with a minor in chicano studies. I am trying to see if there may be a way if I can minor in accounting. But overall being here at UCLA has been very fulfilling and has provided an experience beyond what I experienced. 

In particular regarding this class, I am fulfilling my chicano studies minor but I am more than excited to see what this class has to offer. Background knowledge or experience from a personal level is at the bare minimum, I am nowhere near to being an artist. Through this class I may expand my horizons and knowledge about art. I have learned very little aspects about the Latinx community that uses art as a form of resistance. 

So overall, I believe I will enjoy this class as it will provide a different experience of learning rather than the traditional lecture and discussion entity, but with a more hands on interaction which should make the class fun. I am looking forward to this quarter and this class in particular to take on everything it has to offer!

Lastly for this week's reading on “There’s No Place Like Aztlán: Embodied Aesthetics in Chicana Art” it was very interesting to see how the work coming from Aztlan was more from a perspective of reclamation and sense of displacement.

Week 2 Cara essay

Week 2 Cara essay 

After reading the Cara essay by Professor Alicia Gaspar de Alba it was shocking to see the discrepancies between gender and race in the art industry in the chicanx community. Specifically the limited amounts of women that were recognized with the public art limits their voices produced in the world. The goal of this chapter was to highlight the diffracted levels of gender equality within the Chicano ary community. There were a variety of levels showing discrepancy to women and the recognition of their work. As Alicia Gaspar writes, she highlights how the inequalities reflected in the artwork featured only excluded art, for example a group such las Mujeres Muralistas. These women of Mujeres challenged sexist and stereotypical ideas during the movement, which allowed the call for controversy within politics during this era.. In the course of the Chicano Art Movement, there was simply no regard for women’s concerns and if women had their artwork highlighted, it was indeed a small percentage. In fact, during the CARA exhibition there was a complete domination of men artwork featured and just exemplified the artistic notion coming from the hands and voices of men. On a larger scale, this reflection in the exhibition showed a representative image of class between men and women in the chicano community. In these cases, the women were seen to be below or second to the man and during the movement, these women were facing oppression. So they indeed were seeking liberation, which ultimately spurred them to band together amongst the idea of feminism.

week 10 reflection

Week 10 

It was certainly a pleasure to take this art class with Professor Lopez. Coming in I was a bit hesitant just with the material and concepts we were going to learn, but overall I think it was fascinating taking a different class that did not rely on the traditional textbooks and equations that I am used to learning. This class offered a new dynamic in art and helped develop or showcase some abilities I never truly had. Learning the variety styles of art and the basics of how to draw really improved from the beginning of the class to now. My favorite portion of the class were the artist presentations at the end of the quarter. Being able to listen to the other students and hear about the variety of artists and different types really opened my eyes to the art world. Personally I am not truly into art or being an artist, so it really unleashed a new world and the array of unique characteristics each artist had. Being able to hear their stories or see their diverse styles is really what creates who they are in art. Another feature of this class that was fascinating were the sketchbooks. Having the ability to take the time in and out of class really allowed me to see what I can do. Drawing is something I never really did, so it was nice to work into a new element in life for a period of time. Overall, if I had the ability to take this class once again, I certainly would!

Week 9 blog- artists

The artist that caught my attention last week was Judy Baca. After seeing more and more artists it is amazing to see the painters and public artwork done out in the community for everyone to see. This also allows the artists to express who they are individually and or this allows them to spread their message to the people. But going through the artwork, Judy Baca stood out to me promptly because in my other Chicano Studies classes we have talked about Judy Baca and how her artwork can be seen to transform the community. So in this case, it is always fascinating to talk about her work and community impact she has had. Speaking of her artwork, her main piece that is constantly talked about is “The Great Wall of Los Angeles” mural. This mural stretches to about one mile long and is the longest mural in the world. Also called “The History of California”, is in fact a series of paintings and images of artwork captured throughout California's history. With this in mind, the work maintains the roots of identity of what has come through here has gone, but is never forgotten. Lastly, one of my favorite pieces done by Judy Baca is “Tiny Pieces of Hope”. I really enjoy this mural just how it initially captures my eye and the message it stands to the people. Those who desire to dream have hope with Robert F. Kennedy, which set the precedence for future generations.

week 8 artists

It was amazing last week to see all of the different artists of various styles and many different backgrounds. Each artist had their own motive or reasoning behind their own art which made it that more unique. After seeing all the painters and public artists a few stuck out to me that caught my attention. The first one that caught my attention was the artist from Compton. I did not get her name down, but hearing about her story and personal insight about the work that she does was fascinating. Particularly her artwork stuck out because growing up locally with family living in Compton, it certainly sets the stage to understand the objects and body of work within her art pieces. So definitely being raised in Southern California and being aware about the city of Compton allows me to resonate with this artist and what she is trying to accomplish. Thereafter another artist that caught my attention was one of the last artists presented, Monica Kim Garcia. Listening to her story of how she was from Mexico but growing up in Atlanta ultimately contributed to her very own artwork design. Embracing the the fashion of a women’s body of all different shapes and sizes was her main gravitation. Seeing images outwardly expressed was something new to my own eyes, but very exclusive. This is what ultimately allows her to stand out from traditional artists and allows others to embrace women of color freely.

Week 7 artists

The artist I chose to present next week is Kathy Vargas. Vargas grew up in San Antonio, Texas where a lot of her images revolved around that cultural setting. She is a photographer that has been in her field for over 30 years working primarily on hand-coloured photography. Some of the thematic ideas that we could see throughout her photographs were loss and hope, life and death, and sexuality. Her photographs are sometimes combined with embedded objects such as lace and string. The images that I find fascinating from Kathy Vargas are her images of “magic realism”. These images create a distorted message which represents her life growing up. In her image of “The Living Move (self portrait), this claims to identify the segregated world that she had been born into. Through her images, photography led her to manage a pathway to navigate and find a space for truth and meaning for her own life. This image created a sense of reality for those in the south where their lives and families have been faded and washed away due to political stance during that era. She learned a lot about the culture and how her family grew up from her parents and grandparents. But this image sets the stage for other hand coloured photographs she has talking about politics and the chicano culture.

Week 6 Stencil

The stencil I would like to create is a representation of a maverick symbol. This maverick is recognized to be a bird logo but this representation goes far beyond the simple meaning of the maverick. The meaning of the word maverick has the ability to describe a person. One day I was eating food at my friend’s house and her mother began to talk about all kinds of movies and stories. We were there for a couple of hours and she began to ask me questions to kind of figure out the type of person I was of ordinary life. Her mother is a very religious woman and she slipped out that she identified me as a maverick. I never really have been given this distinction before and it was very surprising because she had never met me prior to this interaction. So going home I looked up what the meaning of a maverick was and after reading some context, it was surprising to see a fitting label characterization of who I am. Simply put, a maverick is a person who thinks and acts differently than others. There is this identification of independence among being a maverick. This evidently is true to my life as I have been a more independent person that has not always gone the traditional route of life. So for this stencil, the cover of my book shall be a logo of a maverick that represents me with my mentality and simply overall as a person.

Carmen Lomas Garza 

Out of the all the prices of artwork created by Carmen lomas Garza the one image that I may resonate the most with is titled ‘Barbacoa para Cumpleanos’. This image depicts a birthday celebration of Carmen Garza’s sister with all of her family and friends. In the back background the papel picado sets the scene of the cultures environment. Even more so, her sister being blind folded and hitting the piñata with the stick with everyone watching depicted a prime example of how those of Mexican descent celebrate birthday parties in the United States. This scene captured by Garza hits home on a familial aspect. This image captures and resembles a very similar way my family celebrates birthday parties for the younger children amongst my family. The one aspect that I miss the most being blind folded and swinging the stick to break the piñata. Similarly the barbecue being cooked is something we would always do during a birthday celebration to feed the great amount of people that were invited. This image resonates to a personal level that brings back the essence of home and family. With everyone coming together as family for a celebration is ultimately what resembles the family tradition. Having the cake, the piñata. and the papel picado all ties together this great family tradition. 

Rasquachismo and Domesticana

Week 4 

Rasquachismo and Domesticana

After reading, this the first of rasquachismo is an interesting new word that has risen to my vocabulary. The simple meaning of rasquachismo is mainly associated with an attitude or taste. The word rasquachismo has been attached to the chicano working class communities in light of a negative manner with bad taste and profanity. Similarly in another view, rasquachismo is seen to come off as an underdog. Coming with this attitude inspired a mentality of survival. Primarily, this attitude led to a mindset of many within Chicanx communities. Rather here in Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology, this article serves to express rasquachismo as more than a label or attitude of low class to those in the chicanx community, but a standard in which they lived by. 

The article speaking about domesticana reflects the spectrums of adversity faced with Chicana art and chicana artists during the movement and even aftward. This word of domesticana serves to cherish and embrace the hard working women to empower their voice in discovering their identity. During this time, the chicana artists used their art to provide insight on the struggles through their very own sexuality that was covered by the systems of patriarchy in place. Their works were key efforts in subtle forms of resistance calling onto the reclaiming of their voice and power. 

After reading the articles, it became evident of the overarching theme that reflected both words of domesticana and rasquachismo. The concept of each word reflected merely a type of attitude rather than a simple idea. I believe that this was key into understanding the purpose of their work reflecting their attitudes and conscience.

Yolanda artwork W3

Free Los Siete 1969 

In this figure, Free Los Siete 1969, created by Yolanda Lopez, she goes on to talk about the political and racial discrimination of seven Latino youth people. This poster was one piece of artwork I wanted to include in my paper but just did not fit in my research question. Although going back to the artwork, it was the subtle detail and the play on words that was ultimately compelling. Lopez created this image to defend those Latinos accused of killing a police officer. This was one of her first stances to call out the social injustice in America. During this time when reform and civil rights movements were occurring, this poster was perfect in bringing awareness to the issue. The work of Free Los Siete 1969 ultimately pioneered political activism from the Chicana artists. 

In her image, there is one young Latino boy who does not have his glaring face impaired by the prison bars representing their struggle of the Chicanx community among the political spectrum, yet standing in unison. Thereafter, the play of words in regards to the Pledge of Allegiance is really what took their political stance and lash back to the United States. Disregarding the words “And to the republic for which it stands” represents the brokenness and division America. Similarly, the absence of the words “With liberty and justice for all” stands to edify the social injustice and discrimination across different ethnic or social backgrounds. This poster serves to display the inadequacy of liberty or freedom in America, to defy the common grounds of what the United States claims to present. This image overall was touching to see how artists could use their ability to take a political stance and bring awareness to issues conveying this through their artwork.