Laura Augilar

The artist that I found the most interesting this week was Laura Aguilar. I found Laura Aguilar interesting for several reasons. The first reason being : She is not afraid of pushing boundaries. Augilar doesn't fit a mold. She doesn't fit stereotypical beauty ideals. Yet she herself has said that she's always trying to push herself to see her beauty. This is her pushing boundaries. The second reason: Her thirst for survival. As she said in the video that we watch in class she often thinks about ending her live. Yet, she's still alive. She's alive because she has a thirst for life. Her style of photography is really interesting to me. Not the nudity but her minimalistic approach to her photography. The above photograph shows Aguilar laying in front of pond. Her body becomes a rock which becomes part of the landscape.

Carmen Lomas Garza

For this week's blog post we looked at the work of Carmen Lomas Garza. Garza came of age during the Chicano movement in the 70's. She used art as a medium to educate people and recruit them into the movement. After reading the book, I decided to look into her work deeper. I found the piece above called Cumpleanos de Lala y Tudi (1989) oil on canvas 36x48inches. Lomas Garza's work is close to my heart because she uses her childhood memories as inspiration for their art. This image is is Garza's sisters birthday party. This image is important to me because  the first memories that I have in America are of birthday parties at Mar Vista parks. It was at these parks that I met my family here in the states,

Diane Gamboa

The artist that I have chosen for this project is Diane Gamboa. Gamboa is from Los Angeles. Gamboa has been exhibiting art since age 5. She has paved the way for many other Chicano/a artists.

Trapeze

For my stencil I picked a trapeze artist. The reason that I picked  a. Trapeze artist is because I've always been fascinated at the way that they have to make their body light in order to master their craft. At the same time they have to be extremely precise with everybody movement. This stencil has an emotional meaning to me because I have gone threw a lot of emotional stuff this year. I feel that carrying all that stuff has made me heavy but I want to be light like the trapeze artist. The idea of "becoming lighter" has helped me work through a lot of stuff.

Shifra Goldman

Shifra Goldman's essay on Iconography discusses the importance of having a symbol . On of the main point that stuck at at me is the construction of ethnicity. Goldman explains that ethnicity "is not an individual construct but the residue of societal processes that may have taken generations to evolve". When I think of that quote I think of Lopez' art piece titled Nuestra Madre. Nuestra Madre is an image of Tonantzin  with the background of La Virgen De Guadalupe. From Goldman we can understand that Tonantzin and La Virgen are basically the same.

Delilah Montoya

I have chosen to do my presentation on the photographer Deliah Montoya because some of her work reminds me of my favorite photographer Graciela Iturbide.

Estrada, Zyanya

Hi, my name is Zyanya (Zee-an-jah). Because my name is hard to pronounce so most people call me Zee. I am a Gender Studies major with a minor in Spanish and Entrepreneurship.

I'm a junior transferring from Santa Monica College. Before attending SMC, I also attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. This past summer I was given the amazing opportunity to participate in the Transfer Summer Program which helped me get better situated in the UCLA environment. My UCLA experience to me is very important because I am the first person in my family to seek a college education.

I was interested in this course because I love art. I believe that arts is one of the easiest ways to communicate. I remember as a child seeing Kahlo’s work and understanding that there was a level of pain that she was trying to communicate. About a year ago, I crossed paths with the work of Ester Hernandez her piece called “Honor Our Past, Celebrate Our Future” really stuck home for me. I come from a single mother household where my mother did her best to keep our family together. I feel that that’s what that piece is about. In this course I hope to learn about other Chicana artist, whose work can impact me like Ester’s.

I grew up in a moderate Catholic environment so I am very familiar with the image of the Virgen. As I started to develop into the person that I am becoming the meaning of the image changed. My mother introduced the image as the ‘savior’ of our people. Slowly, I began to question how a culture that doesn’t really value or respect their women could have so much respect for a women figure? Then I realized that apart from her showing herself to Juan Diego there is no other mention of her. It was as if she existed solely to deliver a message to him and nothing else. I also find her interesting because she is also seen as a fertility goddess. Fertility goddess don’t really fit the image that the Catholic Church portrays so its super interesting that she is an accepted figure of Catholicism.