Final Post

Throughout my course work here at UCLA I have been exposed to an array of things and problems found in the Chicano community.  It never occurred to be that you can engage in activism through art.  I, myself, have never personally drawn much more than stick figures or an elaborate heart across my notebooks.  This class definitely challenged me in different ways and I understand now why art is important.  It should be fundamental in our education system, and unfortunately the high school that I attended did not provide us with any art classes.  This class also shed some light on the corporation of Walt Disney and what it represents.  Given my strong affiliation with the resort and the company in general, I am glad that I was exposed to it in a different light.  My favorite part of the class was learning about different artists because they are reference in my other Chicano classes.  Although I do not consider myself an artist, even after my sketchbook, I enjoyed participating in this class.

Chicana Printmakers

Throughout the quarter we have learned about different types of artworks and the accessibility that people have to certain art pieces.  A technique we learn about is screen printmaking and how Chicana artist use this technique to make it more accessible.  Sanchez discusses an array of artists in her article and provides analysis of different artworks.  Every artist depicts different imagery but most engage in political activism through their artwork.  These pieces of art can more easily be circulated amongst the Chicano community which is crucial when trying to empower a big group of people.  Sanchez talks about Yolanda Lopez and her image of the man questioning, who is the illegal alien?  She portrays an apparently indigenous man who is questioning the original migration that occurred early on in colonial America.  It was interesting to learn how screen printmaking created a space for Chicana artists to express themselves during the Chicano Movement.  In her article, Sanchez talks about the politics within the Movement and the oppression that women still faced.  Many were fighting for Chicano right alongside rights for women.  Many artists created these prints in order to empower women as well and trying to break socially constructed gender norms.  Ester Hernandez creates an etch of the Virgin Mary as breaking away from her usual altar and instead as a warrior.  The image of the Virgin Mary has help reinforce the oppression of woman and therefore image was seen as radical at the time it was published. 

Quinceañera

Carmen Lomas Garza produces such beautiful artwork that many of her pieces remind me of my childhood and growing up in a Mexican American family.  Her artwork usually contains more than two or three people and I love that because it symbolizes our sense of community.  You do not have to necessarily come from a big family in order to create a strong community.  My favorite image from her collection would have to be Quinceañera, where she depicts a traditional Mexican party for a young girl. This celebration symbolizes the passage to womanhood for a young Mexican girl.  Having attended quinceañeras, this is usually what one would find at this celebration.  The girl who is being celebrated is usually accompanied by couples, which Garza depicts at the stairs of the church.  Usually the young girl must attend church before deciding to celebrate her 15^th birthday.  In Garza’s image, the father of the young girl is arriving with her to church in order to escort her in.  Children are running throughout the stairs of the church, which is very accurately.  Most of the time you will encounter chaos at this event.  In class we discuss how sometimes Carmen Lomas Garzas’ artwork is perceived as “folk art,” which was absurd.  Simply because she depicts traditional or family imagery does not make it “folk art.”  Her style is artistic in its own way and should not be classified as otherwise.  

Margaret Garcia

Dear Margaret Garcia,

Recently in our class we had a classmate present on you and your artwork.  Your artwork has been the best I have encountered so far.  My favorite piece of art is the sleeping little girl behind the bright red background.  It is just a beautiful painting and it resonated with me because I have seen this image a number of times in the community where I grew up.  Walking through the streets of my neighborhood I would constantly see children in strollers with their mothers asleep.  The cheeks of the little girl are so enthralling that it creates such a beautiful image.  The other painting that was demonstrated to us was the one of a woman and child also asleep.  I guess you can say I love sleeping and maybe that is why these images called my attention.  I just love how serene people look when they are asleep.  Sleeping is the only time that someone can be at peace without much on his or her mind.  The use of color in your images is also something that I love because I enjoy the intensity it brings to your images.  The brush strokes are apparent in your images and I love it.  You are very talent and I would definitely buy the image of the young girl sleeping! 

Response to Camille Rose Garcia post by Maria Delgado

I was excited to see that I was not the only Disney fanatic in the classroom! Reading over Maria’s post, she shared the same enthusiasm over artist Rose Camille Garcia.  As I had previously stated I am a fan of Disney and I tended to reflect that in the stencil that I choose for my sketchbook.  Also, it was interesting to me that Maria knew the original twisted fairytales that Disney changes in order for it to be appealing to a younger audience.  I was completely unaware of these fairytales until our classmate presented on artist Camille Garcia.  I was pretty excited to learn these original stories because I only knew the one concerning princess Ariel.  Maria explains the tale of Snow White and I did not ever know the tale, even though I spend a fair amount of time at Disneyland! Even though Maria admires Garcia’s critique on Disney, I fail to agree.  Maybe I am blindsided by the stories Disney tries to sell but I view Disney nurturing of people’s childhood.  Although it is unfair to not present the original story, Disney attempts to protect the image of innocence and childhood.  It something that enthralls me and I admire Garcia’s artwork.  I would just have a difficult time showing these images to a younger audience and having to explain the atrocities behind these fairy tales.  

Laura Aguilar

This week we learned about Chicana Artist Laura Aguilar and watched a video about her regarding her artwork.  As a photographer, she captures images that include herself and nature.  These images are usually captured with her nude and her being a part of the natural surroundings.  She is a queer female Chicana that suffers from being overweight and embraces her body as such.  The idea that she is comfortable in her own skin resonated with me because this is something many people struggle with, especially women.  I believe her work is meaningful because she demonstrates that any human body can belong in nature.  Working in black and white before, she also excludes the notion of race in her images.  Watching her video, Aguilar recognizes that the work she is doing is meaningful to other people.  She serves as an example that you can be comfortable in your own skin regardless of your body type.  Images and photography as very prevalent in our current culture and I am glad that Aguilar uses this platform to create her artwork.  It creates a gateway for our current generation to use images to create art and advocate certain principles.  Being outside of the norm is okay and I was fascinated with Aguilars’ embracement of such idea.  Aguilar does not fit the social norm of body types but she has learned to embrace that and instead create beautiful images where her body is beautiful and unique. 

Patssi Valdez

The image that resonated the most with me was the image of Patssi Valdez in front of the LACMA museum.  It accurately presents the struggle that many Chicano/a artists faced during this period.  Much of their art went unrecognized for many years and was not considered to be artistic.  Most of these artists actively participated in creating political art in which it help mobilize the Chicano community.  Although artistic in its own way, many were not taken seriously until there artwork help promote activist movements.  It was interesting to me that Miranda shared with us Valdez’s participation in ASCO.  Given the definition of this word in Spanish, referring to something in disgust, help me understand Valdez’s activism.  To establish a group with such connotation was brilliant because at the time many Americans felt disgust toward the Latino population.  Their artwork was also seen with disgust and they were not recognized as true artist.  The image with Valdez in front of the museum showed how they used graffiti in a different form.  Graffiti has a negative image in our society because it’s related with law breaking and gang affiliation.  These artists used it to demonstrate that in order to be considered true “fine” artist they must first break norms, and therefore graffiti the front of the LACMA museum. 

Sketchbook Stencil

The stencil I decided to cut out for our class was a representation of a Disney character.  At first, I wanted to simply draw the iconic Mickey Mouse face but I decided it against it.  Although it is a universal representation of the Disney franchise, I wanted to pick something more concrete.  I am a huge Disney fan; I enjoy visiting Disneyland constantly during my free time.  The only hobby I consider I have would be my addiction to the Disneyland Resort.  I constantly fluctuate between Ariel and Belle being my favorite princesses therefore I decided to make a stencil of Ariel.  She represents the transition a young 16-year-old girl must go through in order to reach maturity.  We currently do not promote our teenage population to find Prince Charming and marry but she symbolizes the challenges most young girls face when dealing with a parental figure.  I particularly like this stencil because she is sitting on a rock looking out into the sun.  I prefer this reflective Ariel to others because it demonstrates that it is not always going to end with happily ever after.  Disney avidly promotes this idea of happy ever after, which fascinates me because it something that I somehow still believe.  Walt Disney himself was such an interesting character because he advocated that people follow their dreams.  The Disneyland Resort serves as a safe haven for me which is why I decided to depict a Disney character, Ariel.  

La Virgin De Guadalupe

Although I did not grow up with the image of the Virgin Mary, I did grow up in a community where this icon was highly praised.  Throughout our community people celebrate her highly and correlate the Virgin with everything positive that occurs within the community.  For instance, when the Mexican national soccer team wins a match, people will roam in the streets with the Mexican flag and the image of the Virgin to signify a miracle she must have caused.  I do believe that the legend of this icon has been reinterpreted in order to fulfill the goals of the Spanish Conquest.  It sought to convert the indigenous populations of Latin America into Catholicism.  It was successful in doing so and the image of the Virgin Mary was created and developed for this purpose.  The legend itself is questionable because as Professor Lopez mentioned in class, we have no written records of such miracle ever occurring.  Maybe the Church did not intentionally create this image as a tool of conversion but it did help them.  The Virgin Mary can also be found throughout people’s skins, tattoos.  She is seen as a protection for many and provides a sense of comfort to many Mexicans.  We constantly see her depicted along side the Mexican flag and more recently the American flag. 

Romo, Jennifer

My name is Jennifer Romo and I am currently a senior at UCLA.  I am a Political Science major, with a minor in Chicano/a Studies.  I will be applying to law school this year and hope to work as a public attorney.  I do not have a particular hobby, except going to Disneyland constantly.  I work extensively therefore do not have much time to acquire a hobby.  I am a first generation college student; both my parents were born in Mexico.  I grew up about 15 miles away from UCLA therefore I am very familiar with our local Latino communities.  Being a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District has also exposed me to much of the inequality that many Chicano students face.  In high school, some of my classes were at about 48-52 students per classroom, per teacher.  Many of the resources allocated in the district created a direct disadvantage between schools.  This puts a burden onto many of the students I attended high school with, because many feel disempowered.  I did not have any intentions in minoring in Chicano/a studies but learning about how Latinos impact and will impact the politics of the United States is important.

In Gaspar de Alba'a piece, Out of the House, she immediately addresses the issue of gender, race, and class.  Why must we consider the gender issue when discussing the Chicano Art Movement? Did we face the same obstacles, as women, during the Chicano Movement?

Artist for Presentation: Ester Hernandez

I would like to present on Ester Hernandez.