Extra Credit: Reimagining the Virgin of Guadalupe

Before this class I did not know the true history behind the story of the Virgen and that she is actually a symbol of resistance and strength. I also loved being introduced to the reimagination of the Virgen by different Chicana artist, With my own version of the Virgen de Guadalupe I was inspired by Ester Hernández screenprint La Virgen de Guadalupe Defendiendo los Derechos de los Xicanos (1975) and Yolanda Lopez‘s Walking Guadalupe (1978). My reimagining of the Virgen de Guadalupe meant to depict an everyday young woman. I think the Virgen de Guapalupe is seen as a figure of protection and feminine energy. When i think of those two qualities in a person I think of all my amazing friends and how we hold each other up. I also think of all the iconic women I look up to like Rihanna and Maria Felix (cool and tough vibes). I kinda took the reimagining of Hernández’s Virgen of being a strong and tough woman (as all the women who served as inspiration to my drawing are) and the Lopez’s Virgen being on the go (being in motion). I tried to incorporate many elements of the original Virgen into my drawing. The cape was replaced by the hoodie, the flowers from her dress are included in the drawing by making the flower a pendant on a gold necklace. I chose that she should have her eyes open and that instead of her hands being in prayer that she is looking at her phone (the way we tend to communicate with our friends when we can’t do it face-to-face). 

Week 4: Rasquachismo and Domesticana

Tomás Ybarra-Frausto article “Rasquachismo” describes rasquachismo as an underdog attitude “rooted in resourcefulness and adaptability yet mindful of stance and style.” According to Amalia Mesa-Bains article “Domesticana,” domesticana is the “feminine aspect of rasquachismo,” rooted in the “sincere decoration in the domestic space.” From the Bains article, both are practices that serve the “dual function of resistance and affirmation. To me rasquachismo and domesticana is creative and artistic innovation meant for people to create a space and look they feel at home and as complete people. The underdog perspective is not staying defeated from the limited available resources and to make the best from what one’s got. I had never heard of rasquachismo but I never realized how present it was in my life. A great example of rasquachismo given in class was old tires being made into flower pots (my grandma had a few of them). Or when my grandma would use the pull-tabs from soda cans and would crochet them into the purses she would gift to family members. I had never thought altar building as a form of domesticana. I never grew up with altars, not even my super catholic devout mother had an altar for. But I was fascinating in learning the artistic adoption from chicana artists. Baines wrote the domesticana can be a strategy response toward the “oversimplification of Chicana art.” Altars can represent one culture, history, spiritual, and self. Just like Amalia Mesa-Bains altar called An Ofrenda For Dolores del Rio (1991). Dolores del Rio was iconic actress of old Mexican cinema, the first to cross over into Hollywood. Her wikipedia page claims she became a mythical figure of cinema in Latin America. I think this altar was an homage to a feminine icon (who amplified both history and culture), spiritual in paying proper respects to her, and of the self based on how she put the altar together. 

Week 3: Yolanda Lopez Image

The artwork of Yolanda Lopez that I want to write about in this blogpost is Mexican Bag (2003). This piece was influenced by Yolanda’s son. Her son saw an image man is a sombrero under a tree sleeping and immediately classified him as a Mexican. Yolanda realized that mass media was naturalizing stereotypes and caricatures of Mexicans and that young people like her son were consuming these harmful or one dimensional conventional narratives of Mexicans (and other people of color). This realization lead her to create an exhibition of Mexicana objects and images (during the mid 80s to late 90s), that highlighted the negative stereotypes and caricatures the media created. With her exhibition, Yolanda wanted to show Chicano and Latino audiences how Western society commodifies Meixcan people, creates a fantasy surrounding Mexican culture and society, and perpetuates a touristic gaze. Her work with the touristic gaze and commodity continued with her work Mexican Bag (2003). However, with her piece Mexican Bag she is trying to reclaim the painted leather bag as something more than a cheap commodity for tourists by making it a detailed and well constructed design; creating something that Chicanos can reclaim. This painting reveals her complicated relationship with Mexican tourist commodities. In the book Yolanda  wrote that even though many tourists buy these commodities to showcase that they have traveled, these commodities were one of the ways she was able to familiarize herself as a young girl with her Mexican culture. By painting just the painting detail of the bag with greater detail than a regular bag meant for tourists, she is in a way creating respect and honor for this bag because it's no longer just a commodity but as part of the Mexican culture (the craftsmanship behind the work and the history behind designs).

Week 2: CARA Essay

What the CARA (Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation) essay written by Professor Alicia Gaspar De Alba reveals to me that even though Chicana artists were greatly underrepresented, Chicana’s were able to create space in this very limited space to represent their own feminist beliefs and community aspirations. These Chicana artists represented through their art what they wanted for their future and the Chicanx movements future. Chicana women were sick of only being valued for their role in their family and as partners for men. Women were either represented as single-faceted people: melinches, señoritas (feminine and subdued), motherly, or adelitas. The Chicana was often viewed for what she could be for others rather than a whole complete person. The women that did present at the CARA exhibition used politics of identity (definition on page 22) to motivate their art. A piece that aimed to prove the multifacetedness of women that showcased at CARA was Judy Baca’s Tres Marias. The mirror in the piece allowed for Chicana women is continuously evolving and doesn’t need to exist between as one or the other (the tomboy and modest Chola or the feminine and floozyPachuca). 

  I would have not known without reading this essay that the basis of encouragement for Chicanas to go to college was to find college educated Chicano men (via  Armando Rendón in Chicano Manifesto). I knew many white women (who had the most access to college) went to college during mid-twentieth century to get husbands as well, but I never would have thought to make the connection that the same patriarchal ideology were at play. I was also glad to learn about the Mujeres Muralistas and how important they were for the Chicanx movement. Even though they weren’t showcased in the exhibition, they were very influential in challenging notions of women in society and as artists. Another interesting fact I learned that Judy Baca wrote a Woman's manual: How to assemble Scaffolding, I actually want to read that!  I guess the question I would have asked Professor Alicia Gaspar De Alba is: Have you seen any changes in exhibitions showcasing Chicanx artists? (More of them being curated and developed by Chicana or Latina women?).

Week 10: Reflection

I really enjoyed the course material that Professor Lopez introduced in this class. I think it's amazing that she created a class specifically dedicated to learning about Chicana artists. The short paper artist I really enjoyed learning about was Carmen Lomas Garza. I loved the theme of family, culture, and community she explored in her artwork. She also inspired me to want to paint more; I love her use of color. I also enjoyed hearing Ofelia Esparza speak to the class about her work and her journey as an artist. Esparza is an inspirational person because she never stopped working and being there for her community in East LA. She has worked alongside Self-Help Graphics and has her own studios in Boyle Heights. The altar works that both Garza and Ofelia created inspired me to pay homage to my family and ancestors and that even though my parents now look down at these traditions, I can make the effort to learn and practice them on my own. I also enjoyed learning about Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, the artist I had to present and write about. And I loved seeing students' presentations on their artists as well. 

 I appreciated the art demos that Professor Lopez did in the beginning of class to show us how to approach certain drawing projects in our sketchbook. Although I have had experience with studio art classes in high school, drawing was something I stopped actively doing. I was a bit nervous for the sketchbook requirement because I felt like my skills weren’t the best but Professor Lopez reassured us that as long as we put effort and attention to our drawings, they didn’t need to be ‘perfect’. This class has motivated me to take up art again after learning of all these different and successful Chicana artists; It was also an honor to be taught by one as well. This post included some of my drawings from my sketchbook. I still find drawing hands hard and intimidating but it was good that I had this assignment to push me to do it. The stencil project was also a challenge but I liked the end result.

week 5 Ofelia Esparza

Ofelia Esparza and her Daughter

Becoming Los Angeles Nacimiento at NHM Los Angeles

Mural of Ophelia Esparza by Erin Yoshi on the side of the building where her studio resides

I was really inspired by our Guest Speaker Ofelia Esparza because she had considered herself an artist even when she was working as a school teacher. I also thought it was amazing that even though Ofelia’s mother was an artist, her mother never considered herself an artist. The fact that Ophelia made the conscious choice of calling herself an artist is a very inspiring generational change. I also love to learn about the background and the process of her Día de los Muertos altar installations and the ones she has helped the community at Self-Help Graphics. The importance of honoring her family in her work, particularly the women in her family (her mother and her great grandmother) was something I found incredibly beautiful and showed me the importance of learning and documenting your family history via storytelling. The fact that her mother was the one who taught her how to make these Día de los Muertos altars also shows she the act of doing and showing is important to keep one’s culture and traditions and helping form a sense of self that also ties ourselves to our ancestors.

I also learned that she had a permanent nacimiento (she said in class it was more of a nacimiento than an ofrenda) at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. The nacimiento is a representation of LA’s history and of the different people that live here. I haven't been to the NHM since high school and this piece is now serving as a great encouragement for me to visit during my spring break. Another part of her presentation that I thought was amazing was that in an artist exchange with Self-Help Graphics, she was able to create a Día de los Muertos altar in Scotland. The fact that the people in Scotland loved the concept of an altar and how it related to the ancestors they lost throughout their history for independence. I was also surprised to know that even though she was a great inspiration behind the culture development of the movie COCO, she was not paid. The fact that Disney is a multi-billionaire company and cuts corners at paying cultural consultants for the film is ridiculous.

Week 9 Sonia Romero

I unfortunately was really sick last Friday and am sad that I missed the presentation that Daniela made of Sonia Romero but I have been interested in Sonia's work. The work I am most familiar with is her installation for MacArthur Park/ Westlake Metro station. I first came across this installation a few summers ago when I went to Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur park for the Kinky concert it was hosting. I live in Pasadena and I do not have a car so I almost never travel past Little Tokyo and Downtown (every once in a while I'll go to K-town to eat). What I love about taking the Metro Line is the different art installations at most of the stations. What I love about the installation piece that Sonia did for the MacArther Park and Westlake station is that she really captured most of the essence of the area. As soon as you walk out the station you see vendedores outside as you see represented above with the man with the tamales cart. You see the Westlake Theater across the street from the station, and you see people enjoying the park. This installation was created in 2010 so I do not know what the state of homelessness was then, but I know that it is something that one cannot miss now in Westlake and overall all of Los Angeles. Public artists are always asked to portray the city life but commissioned pieces often have limitations to what they can depict (activism wise) and for who.

I like her printmaking art as well. The technique of printmaking is very simplistic but as we learned in class it also allows for art to be more easily distributed and accessible (either portraying activist art pieces or folklore icons ). A printmake piece by Sonia I thought was cool is Mermaid (pictured above). 

Week 8 Jeaneen Carlino

 

I really liked Whispers presentation on Jeaneen Carlino. I like that Jeaneen's drawings are stylized and her use of color is eye catching. I hadn't come across her work before and after seeing it I look forward to buying some prints in the future.  Her art journey is really inspiring in that she wasn't discouraged in continuing with her own art outside of her projects at Trader Joe's. I use to draw a lot when I was in high school but found it hard to keep up with it as I continued with my education and started working. There is no doubt that art is something she is incredibly passionate about. I love the fact that she is a Los Angeles native and prospering as an artist. There are so many outsider artists that come to Los Angeles ands it's awesome to see one of our own gaining recognition. 

Most of the subjects in Jeaneen's art are women. From Whisper's presentation she said that Jeaneen had a Chola series that was inspired from her cousins. It's cool to see artists paying homage to the women in their family. I think that often times it is up to us to create and push representation for our family and community when there is a clear negligence from mainstream media to showcase the diversity that exists. Social media has served as an amazing platforms for artists to put their art out there and to sell it (it is a great way to start).

Week 7: Artist Overview of Consuelo Jimenez Underwood

Consuelo Jimenez Underwood was born in 1949 in Sacramento to a Chicana mother and father of Huichol Indian ancestry. Based on my research she worked alongside her parents as an adolescent in agricultural work. Her father was undocumented and he was subjected to deportation several times and the latter is why migration and borders are subjects she explores with her artwork. Whenever her father would get deported, her and her mother would travel to Mexico in attempt to bring him back (they were not always successful). I think this is an important story to reflect on because all she and her parents wanted was to keep their family together and the thing keeping them apart are man-made declarations. Citizenship papers and borders can change often with a flick of a pen but nature does not follow the same man-made guidelines. Drawing a line in the dirt will not stop the flowers, plants, or other wildlife that existed in the same space before the border was drawn from existing on both sides; and the wildlife may migrate further into the land of both sides due to natural phenomenons The violence and harm that people often endured because of borders is something that I think about when I am looking at her work but learning about her background with her father it also reminds me that family and community are strong and necessary forces in the story of migration and building on these forces can be pushbacks to migration cruelties.

Recurring motifs in Consuelos work is the barbed wire, geographical mapping, nature, and the word Caution. The motifs are used in her artwork to tell the story of migration in her artwork. She medium she works in is painting and textile and thread. She feels more akin to textile and thread because she feels a connectivity to the Indigenous women of the world as she says that all Indigenous women know and work with the needle and thread. In my paper I will further reflect on how her Indigeneity is reflected in her artwork.   

Week 6 Stencil

I want to do a stencil out of Fred Armisen's SNL character Regine. I first came across this character from a meme and Fred's judgement stare and the way he's holding his cigarette like that, it just made me think that we've all been in moments and situations that reflect this exact sentiment. The photo just made me laugh. It prompted me to actually watch the SNL sketches of Regine and she is so cringeworthy, inappropriate, rude, shady, and has incredibly poor social skills. She's a terrible person. pretty much like any good comedy sketch character.

I was having a hard time coming up with an idea of what I wanted to do for my stencil. I was going back and forth on whether I should do something personal or something symbolic and was going through my photos and I came upon a screenshot of this photo and I decided that doing something that makes me laugh would be great. It's been a busy and tiresome quarter, and its good to find moments of laughter and the Regine sketches really made me laugh.

An idea that I had for incorporating the stencil in my sketchbook is by framing it like a Victorian / Edwardian portrait. It would be funny to produce a portrait that was typically reserved for proper and elite women for Regine. It would be a funny juxtaposition. Another way I could use this stencil in my sketchbook is by drawing her inside a television. I could do a whole living room set-up and apply the perspective drawing we learned on the first day of class.

Consuelo Jimenez Underwood

The Virgen de Los Caminos - Consuelo J. Underwood

Undocumented Border Flowers- Consuelo J. Underwood

I am excited to do more research and learn about Consuelo Jimenez Underwood as an artist and person. Consuelo stated in a video from the American Craft Council (where Consuelo is a fellow) that her art has a way of getting people to "connect with their own introspectives." I am excited to see what I can learn about myself in the process of looking at her art. What drew me to Consuelo's art is her use of mapping, symbolism, intricate detail, and its large scale. I also like how she uses different textures and materials for her art pieces.

Consuelo artwork is political in content, in expression, and spirit. The core theme of her artwork surrounds the United States' and Mexico's border. I'd like to learn more about her personal relationship/ experiences with this boarder and to understand what she means by "seeing the world through [her] tri-cultural lens." Looking at her art has motivated me to learn more about my own families immigration story and their attitudes towards the border (especially in today's current political climate). Most of my family gained citizenship before I was born and I'd like how and if people's relationship with the border changes and whether that relationship also is dependent on the time-period in which they have crossed over.

Two pieces that already have my attention is Undocumented Border Flowers and The Virgen de los Caminos. It sounds wrong to classify flowers as undocumented and translate that over to it equally sounding as wrong to classify people as undocumented. It's a piece of work that I'd like to spend more time taking in. The artwork titled The Virgen de los Caminos, reminded me of last weeks readings and class discussion on the recontextualizing and new representations of la Virgen. 

 

Week 1: Veyna, Sarah

Introduction: Hello, my name is Sarah. My preferred pronoun is she/her. I am majoring in Political Science. The picture of me below was taken outside the Broad by my friend; I was super hungry so was excited I was going to be eating something. I am not quite sure what I would like to focus my research paper in this class yet, but possibly looking at the development of art collectives in Los Angeles or Chicanx artists use, purpose, and possible hindrance of social media to showcase their artwork
Thoughts: The conditions of Chicana artists was a really interesting read for me because I can relate to it. For many first generation students, and I think especially for Chicanas, we are pushed to find financial security. Now more than ever, we have that weight on our shoulders to provide for ourselves and our family. Many times we do not have the luxury or patience provided to the men in our families to figure stuff out in their own time and not be given strict restrictions on what they can pursue as a career or passion. Speaking from personal experience, the men have had the time and opportunity to be artists and have passion projects, while the women have not. I think that does relate to the other reading about what makes an artist which is related to social conditions. However, I disagree with that reading in saying that great art is dictated by institutions. Art is meant for all people to see, ponder, and enjoy, whether or not it is recognized by institutions.
Questions: Who determines the value of art? Is the value of art fixed? What do we mean when we call an artists great without looking to the art industry for affirmation?