Week 10: Reflection

 I thoroughly enjoyed this class because it allowed me to discover more artists and uncover different styles of art that I otherwise never would've learned about. 

My favorite was learning about Rasquachismo and Domesticana styles. My family and I had always practiced this style in fixing and styling our home, however, I had never realized this was a common practice that many used. After learning more about this, I took a closer look at the objects I had around my house and realized that I pratice Rasquachismo even more than I realized. I love knowing that this practice is traditional and evironmentally-conscious. 

Additionally, I enjoyed learning about how many Latina-Chicana-Latinx-Chicanx identifying artists exist! I loved the change in the chart and the amount of names we were able to put down towards the end of class. It doubled in amount! It was wonderful to hear about all the artists my peers discovered, I believe they all deserve more recognition for their work. 

Moreover, I loved just how many more peer chicanx/latinx artists we discovered. I always have trouble finding artists that are queer or BIPOC, so this class helped me locate more artists on social media. I hope to keep following them and their content. 

Below I will attach an image one of my peers shared that I find very intriguing and wonderfully designed :)

Blog Post #9 : ChicanaFuturism

     Whilst reading Tradition, Technology and the Chicana futurist art of Marion C. Martinez by Catherine Ramirez, I was particularly drawn to Marion C. Martinez artwork. She is a composer of Chicanafuturism works. Chicanafuturism is a beautiful and modern blend of historically traditional Hispanic art forms with a twist consisting of 20th-century technology. It’s part of the exhibition Cyber Arte in the Museum of Internation Folk Art in Santa Fe, California. Chicanafuturism is a cultural transformation towards technology that, “excavates, creates, and alters narratives of identity, technology, and the future; that interrogates the promises of science and technology; and that redefines humans and humanism”(158).  Her work is comprised of physical technological parts, such as making art from disks, keyboards, green screen disks, and wires typically found inside computers and electronic devices. Martinez has stated in previous interviews that she has been making visual art with technology for over a decade due to her innate curiosity about the magic behind the screen. 

            I had never before heard of Chicana-Futurism or Afro-Futurism and I wish I would’ve been exposed to this art before! I loved all of Martinez’s work. My particular favorite was her work on creating La Virgen out of computer disks and pieces. I still can’t fathom how she was able to fit all the pieces with the necessary sizes and colors. 

Blog Post #8: Printing the Revolution! A Virtual Conversation Series: From Black and Brown Solidarity to Afro-Latinidad

 I would like to preface this by saying that I was unable to register on time for this event, however, thanks to a student who partially recorded the panel event, I was able to gather some information. While watching the recorded version of Printing the Revolution! A Virtual Conversation Series: From Black and Brown Solidarity to Afro-Latinidad, I enjoyed a wonderfully enriching and all encompassing discussion by three Latinx artists regarding different elements of art and how those elements influenced the artist’s identities, practice and message. The panel was led by Kaelyn Rodriguez, and was comprised of artists Malaquis Montoya, Moses Ros Suárez, and Favianna Rodroguez. 

                  The primary focus of the discussion between these artists was how community played an influence on young artists and the desire and empowerment needed to create, promote and continue to build on their artistic sense, especially in times of great social and civil unrest. 

Favianna Rodriguez, an artist from Oakland, pointed out that there is much value in seeing representations of yourself, your culture and your community in the media, whether it be in movies, television shows or on billboards. Here, I resonated with her story about how when she was growing up, she never saw Afro-Latino representation in popular Latino television shows. I remember watching telenovelas with my mom in the afternoons and I too used to wonder why there weren’t tanner-looking Latinos, like my mother, like my father or like me. Rodriguez also grew up during the Great War on Drugs and witnessed the cruel racial bias existing within the justice system as they negatively portrayed black and brown folks as gangsters and junkies. She mentions that this was a key factor that led to the establishment of Mass Incarceration and Prison Privatization. Witnessing this lack of representation and the police violence against her community led to Rodriguez creating art based on indigenous features and iconography and bright beautiful colors that she felt she did not see enough of growing up. 

The two next artists, Malaquis Montoya (graphic poster artist) and Moses Ros Suárez (printmaker and architect), are wonderful artists who spoke on graffiti art and graphic art as key elements to their artistic journey. I closely identify with how Suárez describes the effect of Graffiti. Suárez states that Graffiti art gave him a sense of self and a framework for his identity since he felt invisible while growing up. I too felt similarly and it is why I developed a hobby for graffiti and graphic art in middle school. Overall, the theme of this discussion centered on communities working in cohesion and harmony for social justice and equal rights. 

Week 7: Graffiti is Art

            Charles “Chaz” Bojorquez uses Graffiti to solidy his roots as a born and raised East Los Angeles Chicano artist. He went to school for Graffitti at the University of Guadalajara and describes how graffiti was useful for his career’s trajectory. He describes graffiti as an art form and as a creative language for expressing oneself in freeform. This form of art is a voice and it’s style empowers youth. However, this freeform style can often be misconstrued as vandalism and as tagging, this is because of the bad reputation that Graffitit holds. This negative reputation revolves around gangs, drugs, and illegal activities which social media and the police tend to correlate to gangsters, vandalism, a loss of control or structure and a “a symbol of the loss of moral control in our society”(this is due to Graffiti’s freeform style). Yet, most Graffitti artists combat use their skills and education to provide people with a different representation of Graffitti by showing that Graffiti is tangible and can even be seen in advertisements. 

            I grew up in the heart of LA and constantly surrounded by Graffiti, it was everywhere I looked and I grew to gradually identify different forms and symbols. I used to imitate those styles in notebooks when I was in school. I remember in middle school, my teachers used to berate me about it until I eventually stopped. However, I still vivdly remember how much fun it was designing different characters, phrases, and using different fonts to create a masterpiece that was completely and solely my own. It is this feeling that Bojorquez describes when he says that Graffiti can empower youth. For bipoc, this artform can be a tool for self-empowerment, self-epression and a way to record your observations of the world around you into symbols and cartoons. It isn’t always easy to put the injustices and abuse you witness as a kid into words and so graffitit, whether it was on a napkin or the back cover of my 7^th grade math botebook, gave me a space to decompress the distress I felt witnessing sad life events. However, graffiti also allowed me to express joy and hope in powerful ways since, after all, pictures speak louder than words. I still like to draw, paint, and make crafts (my crafts are basically in Domesticana style) so in a way, my middle school teachers did not stomp art out of me. After reading and viewing Bojorquez’ work, I am excited to once more pick up a pen and give graffiti a shot 

 

Blog Post #6

Rasquache is a style that becomes a habit through lived experiences. This concept was recognized by Tomas Ybarra-Frausto who viewed it as working class Mexican communities making do with what is at hand and called it “an underdog perspective, a view from los de abajo” (Gonzalez 86). While rasquache has been traditionally for males, the term Domesticana is a version that focuses on rasquache’s female counterpart in which domestic spaces are decorated very well but with ordinary household items, such as making ofrendas, altars and any resources at hand. Essentially, rasquache and Domesticana are focused on being resourceful and making the best from what you have at hand.

Although I have never heard of this term before, I believe that rasquachismo sensibility and Domesticana styles have been crucial for my family and I. I grew up very poor with many sisters and so we often had to get crafty if we wanted to maintain appearances and fit in at school. Throughout my childhood, whenever clothes, shoes, or backpacks would rip and tear, my mother would quickly sow and patch it back together. She did this because of the scarce financial resources we lacked to just buy new clothes, shoes or backpacks. My sisters and I would have fun with passing down these items. When my oldest sister graduated middle school, her graduation present would be a brand new backpack or shoes, and her old backpack or pair of shoes would fall to either the next in line or whoeverecould fit her size. We used to have much fun with doing this and we never really realized how broke we were because we made a gam out of it. It was only until I reached highschool where I realized that this was uncommon among my peers and actually frowned upon. I still vivdly remember the surprise I felt when one of the strings on my backpack tore in class and people wondered by I still wore the same backpack the next day.

As for Domesticana style, I do not think this was present in my family until I reached middle school and developed a sense of style. It was around this time where I began making trips in richer neighborhoods with my dad looking for really good thrown out furniture.

When I think of rasquache, I think of being resourceful and making do with what you have to get the best result you want.

Week 5: My experience with La Virgen de Guadalupe

 La Virgen de Guadalupe has been a constant presence in my life. I feel as though she is always with me, guiding me through the highs and lows of life. For context, I come from a somewhat religious household. Growing up, my Catholic mother enrolled me in Catechism school for the weekends. I vividly remember crying and praying to La Virgen to help me pass the oral test of reciting prayers as I walked to the school – I always failed. My mother always took my sisters and I to a new church location every Sunday morning up until I was 15 years old.  This is around the time in which I began to disassociate from religion and wasn’t sure if I believed in all of its practices and teachings. However, I still would accompany my mother to church because I knew it would make her glad to see me on what she deemed was the “right path” for una dama. A little after that, I began to explore my sexual identity and once I began questioning that part of myself, it did not take long before I began to wonder how a church (or God, either works fine in this case) that preaches love to all of its followers, would not extend its arms to me and my queer identity. I tried speaking to a priest about it during confession, but he did not do much besides tell me to pray (aka “pray the gay away”, which we all know doesn’t work). I kept this part of me a secret from my mother. I found solace with La Virgen because her face has been painted, carved and depicted as an understanding and motherly figure and would dedicate a prayer to her every day. When I did break the news to my mother, her face appeared to have the same understanding and loving face that I had prayed to for so long (she alter admitted that she had already had suspicions and would accept whether I told her or not). To this day, I am unsure if I can call myself Catholic but there is no doubt that my love for La Virgen stems from the love I have for my mother.

P.S. check out @virgensdela on Instagram, they post pictures (as well as locations) of La Virgen Maria from all over LA in all different art forms and styles! The images I've posted here are all from that account. 

Week 4: Printing the Revolution's Preview Reception

 The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) features a huge collection of Chicanx Art, the event name is “¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now”. This exhibition is a testimony and is meant to tell the inspirational story of Chicanx artists and the turmoil of this diaspora. The museum hosts one of the largest collections in Latinx and Chicanx graphics on the East coast. They provide a narrative a fuller understanding of the American experience and a more inclusive view of American art and society.The “¡Printing the Revolution!” exhibition is led by a curator of Latinx Art, Dr. E Carmen Ramos, and by curatorial assistant of Chicanx Art, Claudia Zapata. The main themes in this collection are historical revolutionist civil rights print work as well as modern contemporary art.  The collection is also full of various paintings, print work, graphics, self-portraits and more unique designs which all resonate with revolutionary messages and themes. The artists Juan Fuentes, Zeke Peña, and Ester Hernandez discussed the importance of Chicanx art in relation with inspiring a cultural consciousness of social justice and its role in the American experience for a more diverse and inclusive perspective. This collection is also presented in correlation to their timeline with a gradual shift from portraits and paintings to digital work and graphics, even some in augmented reality (AG). Throughout this video, the artists focus and explain how their art has been influenced by the social climate and political turmoil (or lack thereof) that has helped to guide the message they intend their art to display.  

I am part Salvadoran but never really see artwork about my country so I'd like to share my favorite art piece from the panel:

Blog Post 3: Peña, Pocha

Sandra “Pocha” Peña is a Chicana and Indigenous artist known for her work in film making and video art. She is a native Santa Ana resident and resides there with her husband, mother and pet Chihuahuas. She has dedicated herself to teaching visual art, such as videos and silent cinema, all over the country. Her creative focus centers around filming indie videos, hosting live musical performances and creative writing.

She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of California San Diego in Sociology and the Visual Arts. During this time, her work picked up pace as she consistently showcased her video artwork in museums and film festivals. Soon after, she studied at the University of California Los Angeles’s School of Film and Television to complete her master’s degree. With this in hand, she spent over a decade working to produce Spanish television shows and promotions for Latino networks. She’s also an alumni of the 2009 San Antonio Creative Capital Professional Development Program and even received a 2010 Idea Fund to support her work. 

She even published a “Pocha Manifesto” in a Jump Cut film journal and soon after began to direct and create film festivals in Los Angeles, San Diego and Texas! 

She’s written stories for Latinx magazine such as La Opinion and Tu Cuidad Magazine. She’s 

A notable work she has completed and published is her 1980’s MTV punk music video. She successfully shot and aired a music video for The Vandals. 

She currently resides in Santa Ana where she has been elected as Chair of the Arts and Culture Commission for her community.

 

Include the link to the sites here: 

Her website: http://pocharte.com

         https://sarmientoforsantaana.com/about/

Her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarmientoforsantaana/

Her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lapocha

 

The LA Times even wrote an article about her!

Check it out: https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/entertainment/story/2020-07-01/santa-ana-artists-take-on-american-democracy-in-online-video-series

 

 

Blog Post 2

 Question: How has digital creative interfaces helped to broaden Chicanx art? 

Answer: 

            Creative work and art that has been created (expressed) through digital technologies has done much to diversify Chicanx art and artists. “Personal computing, the smartphone, the internet, and the web represent the ever-changing resources that have allowed Chicanx artists to champion undeserved communities and cultivate audience interactivity, in the process redefining graphic forms for the greater food of solidarity,“(page 129). Although it must be noted that, despite this modern take of the art making process, it has not taken away from Chicanx art’s most popular and known work. As such, public murals and political print work is still very common despite the digital influence that advanced technology has had on art. Chicanx graphics and modes of expression have vastly expanded and have made spreading messages and news that much more accessible and easier to create. Computer-based artistic processes have helped to share contemporary political graphics and social media (ex. Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and Facebook, etc.) has helped in spreading Chicano art and artist’s digital footprint thereby ensuring a wider audience can view the art. The combination that arises from digital media and Chicanx art culture make for a unique experience, especially since Chicanx art still prioritizes graphic and visual messages. This is one of the ways that digital media has not disrupted the ongoing culture of creating art that is accessible to all of its audience despite education and reading levels. By utilizing digital mediums, new opportunities arise in animating and perfecting an artist message. For example, the UFW (United Farm Workers), performed a high-tech boycott initiative that used computer techn and social media to ensure their message was dispersed to a larger audience. The shift to embracing digital methods of making and creating art has helped to broaden exposure for Chicanx artist and their artwork. 

Katherine Ponce

Hello everyone! 

My name is Katherine Ponce, but most call me Kat (feel free to do so!) and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I am a second year Psychology and Chicana/o and Central American Studies double major. Coming into UCLA as just a Psychology major, I struggled in my courses and felt isolated, I did not feel a sense of community within my large department but after taking my first Chicano course, I knew it was something I definitely wanted to learn more about. That first course opened the door for me to meet other Latina/o Bruins and allowed me to find a safe space within such a huge campus. 

A few other things about me: I like to paint, crotchet/knit, read and rollerskate! I like all kinds of music, to please feel free to reccomend any and all artists/songs. 

Here is me :)

 I’m taking this course because I want to learn more about chicana/o artists and discover new artists. I am excited to see all the different and new artists that my classmates will discover. Since going into quarantine, I have picked up painting and arts and crafts to pass time, so I’m hopeful that I will find an artist(s) I can relate to and whose work I can admire!

I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s reading by Carmen Ramos, I resonate strongly with one of her key points : Art can be a tool for a revolution. Art is versatile in that it has many purposes, uses and methods of expression. I want to point out that one of the best qualities found in Art is that it is accessible to all, despite their level of education. By that I mean that not all Art uses words or requires it’s audience to read, visual depictions are much easier/accessible to understand and hence can have a more powerful impact than an essay or speech. There are two artists that I found most interesting, Montoya’s prints and Sandra Fernandez’s work on her experience as an Immigrant and Daca recipient. I like how Ramos uses Montoya’s prints to foster pride in the Chicano/a ethnicity while Fernandez’s work on immigration provides a message of compassion and attempts to foster empathy towards migrants and their harsh journey.