La Musica & Reflection: Final thoughts

Wow I cant believe how fast time flies! In the last two weeks of class we discussed, "La Musica" &  were given a few words to create work on. I selected "China Poblana & Cosechador" I created simple sketches of exactly what I thought about when I heard the words above. I drew simple water colored sketches of an early China Poblana with a simple umilde dress posing with a traditional mariachi sombrero. This image reminded me of the simplicity of the music and of the time when it was composed. My second image was one of a simple traditional Cosechador . The Cosechador was a simple man who worked and harvested the gifts of the land. He worked hard for himself, his family and for what he believed in. Never wanting anything handed to him and always proud of the little he and his family had. I feel that the Cosechador ties to the music because he is part of the land just like the maize and the people of the land. I feel all of this influenced music and its lyrics. These pieces were critiques well overall even though they were very simple. The following week I decided to expand of my original pieces and I created a woodedn interpretation of a Mexican paper China Poblana doll. These dolls were popular during music festivals in mexico. They originally were made of paper. They were handed to the children and they were cone folded to create a playful mona of a China Poblana that the children could play with or save as a celebration keepsake. My wooden rendition was a bit more structured and sculptural. I wanted to create a strong piece that reflected the music of the week. I feel as though I was successful. The wooden piece helped tie all three pieces together.
Reflection & Final Thoughts:  I can believe that the class is over and there will be no more Thursday nights of singing laughing and celebration. It makes me sad to think that its finally over, yet a small part of me is thankful and happy that we at least get to take away all the great music we heard learned and sang in class. The gift of music and sound given to us by Tony, that will be with us forever and can never be taken away!. I loved all the songs we sang and all the singers, composers, and authors we learned about . I feel this course really helped me learn about my culture heritage and traditions that I had maybe forgotten, never learned or heard about. The Music was life changing and the art inspiring. I feel this course helped me push myself to a place I had never explored while creating art. I feel that before the course I thought all art as created a certain way and that it had to have some sort of structure. I leaned that this is not the case and that its ok to think outside the box. I learned to use found materials and learned that it is ok to think outside the box. I learned that sometimes less is more and sometimes it is not. I really enjoyed listening to Tony. I feel his passion for the Mexican culture to be very inspiring to myself and others and he really helped me understand things I had never given the time to understood before. I rate this course and instructor overall a 10 out of 10. I hope Tony continues to teach this course as I feel it is an important one here at UC Berkeley and an important course for Tony to have in his life. He and only he can teach this course with the time energy and passion that he has for what he teaches. I am super grateful to have been a part of his course and I was honored to have meet all the great people I meet in class. Thank you all for the love, motivation and support. Without the course, you all and Tony I would not be the person I am today! I will see you all again soon !! God Bless and Take care!! Have a great summer!

Distant love

This week I created a piece with the word "Love and Amor" in mind. I feel that a lot of the music we listed to is Love music. Some of it is happy and some not so much. I feel that the music sometimes speaks of a forbidden love that will never be. So much to say but never being able to say it to that one special person that matters. I feel the music to contain love mixed in with pain sorrow and sadness. I created an organic piece using natural wood and paper board. I created an image of a man and woman with that forbidden love, reaching out with so much to say yet unable to connect to express what they feel. I feel this piece was successful over all. Critique went well and I received great feedback from my peers. I really enjoyed this week in music and hope to continue to grow within my work.

Agustin Lara

This week I decided to create a piece based on the person behind some of the music we listen to and sing in class. This person would be none other than Agustin Lara. I decided to try something new but feel as though I failed. I yet again I wanted to think outside the box and try working with collage. I used a found cardboard and magazine cutouts. I created an image of Lara creating and playing an abstract piano. I incorporated the work "Extraordinary" because I feel that it described to the t who Lara was, an extraordinary individual and a legend in the music world. I wanted to try collage because its a medium that I had never tried before and I made it simple because I feel less to be more. in this case I do not feel that my piece was successful nor do I feel it to be stron. I feel like it lacked personality and I guess I learned hat sometimes change is not a good thing. It was something I really wanted to try but I guess I just personally was not happy with the outcome. Critique went well overall but feel as though my thoughts regarding the work were confirmed by my peers and Tony as well. I will continue to try different mediums but will put a bit more thought into what I create.

La Musica

This week I was really inspired by the musica and songs we sing in class, as well as by the DL that Tony provides for us. I listen carefully and get lost in the instrumental sounds especially the guitar. I love how such a simple instrument can create such beautiful sounds and how it brings the word of our songs alive! I enjoy coming to class every week because I realize how much I enjoy singing and listening to Tony and GiGi play the guitar. I decided to dedicate this weeks piece to Tony by creating an abstract musical instrument. It is a piece that is symbolic of the beautiful music we sing crated by great and infamous artist and song writers. I really enjoyed handcrafting this piece and I although not functional I wanted it to have that hint of the human hand, thought and ideas that we also hear and sometimes see in the music we listen to and sing every week. This was one of my favorite weeks in music and I cant wait to see what else is in store for us! I hope you all enjoyed viewing this piece as much as I enjoyed crafting and creating it! I loved all the great feedback and really love that Tony saw what I saw in this piece! Thanks so much guys ! Until next time!

Culture Reflections

Culture Reflections:

As the weeks move along and I listen to the critiques from my peers and our Instructor Tony, I realize that I want to continue expanding on the materials I use to create my art. I love how the class and critiques have taught me how to think outside the box when creating my pieces. This week we read and learned a lot about the land and the traditions in cultivating and producing from what mother nature and the land offers us. In Mexican culture we grow and use maize to create food and even drinks. Maize is a gift from nature & gods, some even have rituals where they ask the gods & land for permission when cultivating and harvesting the maize. The maize is only harvested at specific times of the day as is viewed as being part of the soul of the land. It is respected and honored because it is  the part of nature that keeps us healthy, fed and nurtured. If we respect the land and grow the maize then the land will care and respect us by providing substance and nutrition. Another gift from the land is Maguey. Maguey is a type of cactus that at a specific time of its development creates a type of liques that is harvested to create an alcoholic drink named, "Pulque." Pulque was very popular and was heavily consumed in the last century. As the reading and videos we viewed have showed us it has become a tradition that has lost interests from newer generations and is very sad to think that it could be a tradition that could eventually be lost. Pulque and Maize are very much a part of ourselves, our traditions heritage and our culture. The piece I created this week is a landscape watercolor painting. A scene of a Maize and Maguey field. I added a reflective metalic border so that the viewer could see him or herself reflected back as a reminder of our background, culture and traditions. Our ancestors worked the land to survive and we are here because of there struggles and hardships. We must learn to reflect and acknowledge their struggles as well as who they were in order to understand who we are, where we came from and how we got to where we are, I love learning about my culture and traditions that I know little to nothing about. This weeks reading, songs and videos really helped and inspired me to create the piece you see above. I see myself reflected in my work and I hope you see yourself as well. :) Until next time!

Cultures Collide

The week always seems to go by so fast and I realize that I always seem to overthink the readings and what I will be creating! This week I decided to let my imagination run loose and create a piece that was based on what I understood from reading the chapter in the Octavio Paz reader. The reading was long and complex as usual but what I loved from Don Octavio is that he always seems to write about culture and how the Mexican and American culture collide with one another, never being exactly from one or the other and simply feeling rejected and ostracised. This rejection comes for us not feeling like we meeting the standards that each culture sets. Even though we are all human and so alike in everyway we are still yet so different. The Mexican culture had its ideals and standards and I know how harsh the members of its communities can be if you can not conform to specific expectations. The America culture is not so different in its way of thinking with its own set of ideals and standards. If you are to much like both then you are rejected and called a "Pocho" and basically looked down upon. Not Mexican yet not American so it becomes problematic for many of us, including myself. This is why I decided to create the piece you see pictured above. It is symbolic of two cultures colliding and merging or intertwining as one. I know that although I was raised with Mexican traditions, learned from my parents I also have a set of American traditions that I learned growing up and I feel to be very proud of both. They make me who I am and what I represent. People can call me "Pocho" if they want and can think I'm not American nor Mexican enough, but at the end of the day I know who I am and what I believe in. I see myself in my sculpture and it is beautiful in my eyes regardless of what others may think. Instead of complaining like I feel Don Octavio does in the reader I accept who and what I am and I play with the cards I was dealt. I am very proud of my traditions, culture and heritage both Mexican and American. I hope that this piece helps others see the beauty in our culture and traditions both Mexican and American! Enjoy!!!

Voz

Post Week # 5: Voz
Ch.4 Octavio Paz Discussion 

(Post your fifth project Voz (photo & writing)
Post thoughts, observations on Octavio Paz.)

Don Octavio Paz writes an intense chapter 4 in the Labyrinth of Solitude. Chapter 4 entitled The Sons of La Malinche is a unique chapter that relates to our chosen word Voz in many ways. Voz seems to be symbolic not just of words but could be a representation of the woman or mother. The Chapter talks about the woman and how, "she is an image of both fecundity and death." He states that the the woman is the, "Goddess of of creation and the Goddess of destruction. He goes on to write about the word, "Chingada" he describes the word to be "The Mother, not a Mother of flesh and blood but a mythical figure and that, "Chingada," is one of the Mexican representations of Maternity. Chingada is a word he uses to describe, "the mother who has suffered metaphorically or actually." When creating my piece I decided to work on a found object. I decided to work on a rusted paint can lid that although old and warped seemed to be a figure of life like the woman or mother. The lid had given birth to rust on its surface displaying its hardships and was the protector like the mother to a family of small spiders. It was the perfect piece to work with because it represented what I had just read in chapter four. I painted an abstract representation of a nipple and breast with blood symbolic of flesh, blood, life and death. I really feel that this was one of my best pieces and I really enjoyed working with a found object as it gave my work new life. People reacted positively and felt the strength and tension in the work. I will continue to work with found object so that I may be able to give them new symbolic life. I really enjoy class and love hearing peoples opinions and what they think and what they assume Im trying to state with the work. 

Fiesta y Tristesa

The reading of Don Octavio Paz is quite interesting yet confusing in a sense simply because his words and thoughts are so strong that sometimes I feel like I can not comprehend, yet I can feel the passion and strength he write with. He has great energy and what I do understand from the readings, strength, energy and passion is what I attempt to incorporate into my work. This week we played with the words Fiesta y Tristesa. Two words that I know very well. White reading Don Octavio I came across a passage that I really liked, it reads,"Sugar -candy skulls, and tissue paper skulls, skeletons strung with fireworks... our popular images that always poke fun at life, affirming the nothingness and the insignificance of human existence." I understand this because we in the Mexican culture play with death and images associated with death, we are taught that death is not anything to fear and that it is in fact another part of life itself. You can not have life without death and we see this influenced in a lot of our cultural images including the image that I created this week. While I read the chapter it took me back to a time when I was a young boy, visiting my aunt at her ranch someplace in Guadalajara. I remember a huge valley out in a desolate area with lots of  dried grass lands, dried streams lined with boulders and her home perched at the edge of an old lake where the animals drank. It was a large isolated ranch that was just outside a small pueblo. It was Christmas time and the celebration for el dia de la Virjen was approaching. December 12th is a special day in the small pueblos and everyone goes all out in celebration of the Virgin Mary. The pueblo buildings are strung with christmas lights, festive decor and the pueblo celebrates with a local fair. The fair is up and running on December 12th and their is traditional music, carnival rides, games, dancing, fireworks, food vendors of art and clothing. I remember being excited to attend and especially loved playing the Mexican Lottery. The Mexican Lottery is a game that has numbered cards with images of, El Sol, La Muerte, La Dama, El Galan, y El Valiente to name a few. Mostly traditional images. This game is somewhat like bingo and it is played with pinto beans. Cards are called and a bean is placed over a playing square that display the playing cards called. If your playing card has the image of the card called then you place a bean over the image and when full you call, "Lotteria"! At the fair they set up canopies with tables and lighting. People gather to play Lotteria and with prizes. People eat and drink while they play. It was always my favorite part of the Dia de la Virgen celebration. The image I created this week was inspired by the reading and by a specific event that that the reading brought back to mind. I remember being at the celebration and sitting under a canopy playing lotteria with my mama, tias, primos, and family friends. We played lotteria and enjoyed the ambiance. Sometime during the celebration a heavily intoxicated tall lanky man dressed in old dirty jean a button up shirt with rolled up sleeves and a tejana hat, drunk sweaty and dirty and began running his mouth. He was warned by a group of men that he needed to take himself elsewhere and that he needed to shut his mouth. He continued and took the threats lightly. He was the typical, "Valiente" who had no fear and laughed at the presence of trouble danger or death. We all looked on as he ran his mouth when all of a sudden the group of men stud up, and keeping word to their threats as they began to beat the tall lanky man. As he was beat he would not let down and continued to stand his ground. He was no match for the group and would surely lose not only his pride but maybe even his life. He was the Valiente that the lotteria card embodies. He has pride and will not back down regardless of the situation even if it means potentially losing his life. The Mexican as Don Octavio writes, " The Mexican Praises death, celebrates it, cultivates it, embraces it, but he never surrenders himself to it." The Valiente in the traditional image of the lotteria show a man showing no fear holding a bloody knife that will never surrender or back down. I re-imagined the image to show his fearlessness and his acceptance of death. My image represents that man, the one I called the valiente that day. He stood without fear, with an akword forward stance taking his medicine without fear of death. He praised, celebrated and embraced it just like the Don Octivio writes. He was the typical Mexican Valiente. I do not know what happened to the tall lanky man but I do know that it was an experience in his life that he will never forget and probably will not be his last, because he is a mexican and he will never surrender nor back down. I hope you all enjoyed my rendering of, "El Valiente Muerto," and I included the image of the original playing card for you all to compare! Thank you for your time and for reading my blog! I will see you all soon and cant wait to see what else Don Octavio has in store for us! until next time!

Critique Feb.14th 2013 Mexican Masks

      Don. Octavio Paz writes that, "unlike other people, we the Mexicans believe that opening oneself up is a weakness or a betrayal... he can do many things but never backdown and can never allow the outside world penetrate his privacy."All of this in reference to the Mexican Mask, which is also the title of chapter 2 in, "The Labyrinth of Solitude." So when I hear the word, "Mascara," I think not of a physical mask but of a persona that one hides behind in order to maintain privacy. We all have a persona that is public, what we allow others to see, but their is always the persona inside that we keep to ourselves. A sacred identity that we rarely if ever allow others to see of know. We hide this identity for reasons known only to ourselves. We may hide behind this mascara to maintain privacy or even to hide unhappiness with who we truly are. I feel that everyone hides behind a mascara because if we freely open up who we are at risk of being judged, ridiculed or as Don Octavio Paz writes,"opening our defenses may lessening our manliness." We all decide to be who we want to be and our mascara or persona allows us to be exactly who we want others to see and who we truly want to be. We lie to assimilate to absorb and integrate to ideas, people or culture. These lies we tell eventually become truth in a sense because we ourselves begin to believe them and we become who we present ourselves to be.
      On a warm afternoon while walking home from my on campus internship I bumped into an old grey haired bearded homeless gent on the street talking to a group of students. I stopped and listened and heard him speak of the man he once was. Having a job a home and a family, but now alone, living on the streets and living a life that is so different to what his life once was. He spoke as if he was content with his current situation and where his life now was. I walked away thinking, "Is this man hiding behind a mascara? Is the persona he pretends to be really who he wants to be? Does he at all miss his former life? Is he really happy with who he is now and where life has taken him or could he be lying, simply to integrate to the people and culture around him? Is he masking unhappiness or loss?" All these questions have answers that I will never know because what he presents is his and our reality, his persona, his mascara. His words, his lies become his reality, what he wants us to see and what we accept him to be.
        I feel that I connected my image to the word "Mascara" and felt it to tie directly to the ideas of chapter 2 in our reading. I received great feedback from my fellow peers but was a bit disappointed to know that Prof. Tony did not quite connect the image to the idea of Mascara. I understand that we all have our points of view and respect everyones opinions. I take what I hear as constructive and apply the feedback to better my work. Sometimes its hard to break from a certain mindset and like Tony stated, maybe I am well trained and used to specific structure or style. I guess it doesn't hurt to think more outside the box and crate works that are unique, different and challenging. Thank you for everyones feedback as it molds me to become a better artist. Attached is the image for you all to re-enjoy! Till next time!

Post Week # 2: Anhelo
Ch. 2 Octavio Paz Discussion 


       This week our word to research and create work from was "Anhelo." I really had a hard time figuring out and deciding what the correct meaning of Anhelo was since there was alot of information that came up when I did an online search. I decided that for me the best meaning for the word Anhelo was, to long or desire. I thought," what do I long or desire most at this time?!" The answer to this question came very easily and helped me in creating the piece that you all viewed in class. So what is it that I long for or desire? What I long and desire for is to find my place and allow others to see who I am here at UC Berkeley. Ever since I moved to Berkeley earlier in January I have felt like an outsider as if I do not belong or fit in. I allow others to see and feel my presence and most are unaware of my disconnect, or that I only allow them to see what I think they expect to see. While reading chapter 2 of Octavio Paz I really understood what he refers to when he entitles the chapter, "Mexican Masks." It made me feel as if I were wearing a sort of mask, using it to hide from myself and others so that they could not see my vulnerabilities, differences or weaknesses. I related to Paz when he writes, "he builds a wall of indifference and remoteness between reality and himself." I am who and what I am and know what I am about, but wear that "mask" in front of others due to fears of not being well received or liked by my fellow peers and classmates. I came from a place where I did not wear a mask and everyone accepted me and my differences with out judgement or ridicule. I wear that mask to avoid finding out what they would really see or think if they knew the real me. Its funny how Paz describes that opening up, confiding if others or showing emotion lessens our "manliness" and sometimes I feel this can be somewhat true. If we open up we risk being judged, discarded, unloved or unliked or seen as a weak, but if we continue to wear that mask we may never really learn to know who we really are, regardless of how much we think we know of ourselves. Sometimes it takes the views and opinions of others to realize certain things about ourselves that maybe we are not in tune with or aware of. The word Anhelo reminded me of what I long for and desire, I  long and desire to fit in, to be well liked, loved and not judged for being me.To have a name and a face here at UC Berkeley. 
         I painted and image on cardboard that was influenced by a photograph of the lower level of the Kroeber hall spiral staircase from below looking upwards. The spiral had significance for me because it reminded me of the long and spiraled road I went through to find my self here. The black, what some in class called "eyelashes" are a symbol of the hurdles or roadblocks I had to overcome so that I could be here at Berkeley. Now that I am finally here I still hide behind my mask feeling loss and lost, thinking I know who I am but not really sure I really know anymore. Now longing to find myself and my place at this new University and town I now call home. I continue to see myself and allow others to see me as my piece, a name less, faceless person who is lost and hiding behind that "mask" that I make for myself. Until I learn to open up and remove that mask I fear to let go of is when I will be whole again, with a place, a name and a face. 

Week # 1 Tierra y Corazon

Post Week # 1: Tierra y Corazon
Ch. 1 Octavio Paz Discussion 

(Post your first project TIERRA y CORAZON (photo & writing)
Post thoughts, observations on Octavio Paz.)

       For our first project we were given two words Tierra y Corazon, meaning Soil & Heart, and were asked to think of a place, Mexico and connect those words and this place to create an image of what we felt these words meant or brought to mind. When reading Octavio Paz I envisioned the place and time he lived in. What was around, what people thought, what people were doing, listening to and viewing on television & film. From my research Octavio Paz first had "The Labyrinth of Solitude" published in 1950 at that time Mexico and the world were in a very distinct place in time and history. Paz's book is basically a "discourse on Mexico's quest for identity." I think at that time a place in history their were many groups of people, particularly those of mexican decent now living outside of their tierra that were searching for their place to belong and to feel connected with. They left their home tierra and now had to dig new roots in a foreign soil where they really were not accepted and grow to overcome adversity and build a new place to call home, a new tierra a place where their corazon would thrive and grow, a place to belong to and call home once again. 
     The words Tierra y Corazon made me crate a piece which I entitled, "The Blue Maria Felix." I was influenced by her early life story and a classic vintage photograph by the great Manuel Alvarez Bravo where her image is partially hidden by the shadows. Maria Felix was a great actress from the cine classico time of the 40's & 50's. When she first started acting she was offered a contract by an American studio where they would develop her as a great American actress, meaning they would most likely hide her true identity and her origins so she could be easily marketed and easily accepted by the American public. She would lose her identity and would have to leave her tierra Mexico and leave her corazon to follow her dreams. She wanted nothing to do with this and declined harshly as she wanted nothing to do with the America, its ideas nor its tierra. Her corazon, her life and soul belonged in Mexico and thats where she would stay and make her dreams come true. Like the pachuco in the reading Maria Felix did not want to "lose her language, religion, customs and beliefs." Maria Felix had the "stubborn desire to be different," as Paz writes, but she wanted to be different in her tierra where her corazon was. When I read her story and viewed the photograph I felt Manuel Alvarez Bravo really captured more than just her image he captured her soul and it spoke to me of all the hardships she had gone through to be at that place at that moment. I painted the image as it was in the full glamour of the late 1940's. It was painted on bristol board and used Ink and water colors. I used black and white coloring but added a blue colored shaw over her head to remind the viewer of her cold past, her hardships, hard decisions and a different type of greatness she gave up in America to stay in the place she loved, where her Tierra and corazon were connected.
     The piece was very well received by my classmates and I received great feedback. It was great hear all the different views and opinions of what the piece made different viewers think and feel about tierra y corazon while viewing the piece.