SYLLABUS CHICANA ART AND ARTISTS
A COURSE OF THE CESAR CHAVEZ CENTER
BY PROFESSOR JUDITH F. BACA
MEETING TIME: 4 UNITS
Introduction to Chicana Art and Artists
The premise of this class is that Chicana artists have developed a unique experience in creation of their identities as artists and Chicanas that has yet to be defined separately from the experience of Chicano Artist. Is there a common character to the Chicana artist who has defied the multiple circumstances of gender-defined roles in Latino families? Is there cultural resistance to women as progenitors of culture? How does the role of artist conflict with duties and responsibilities as mothers, daughters, and relationship partners and how have our leading Chicana artists reconciled these issues to become recognized? Are there common characteristics among these women and have they common elements evident in their aesthetics? This class presents nationally recognized women in a series of lectures by the artists. The class will participate in interviews conducted at the conclusion of talks with the artists. Presentations will be documented and archived for future use as a teaching resource at the Cesar Chavez Center.
STUDENTS COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Students will be required to write a final 10page minimum Comparative paper on the Chicana artists presented over the course of the quarter. Participation will also be a determining factor in grading. Students will be expected to engage in lecture discussion with the artists through at least two questions developed from the readings and lectures. Students are also required to participate in the Special Project for documentation of the presenting artist work and the creation of an archive of slides for research. Midterm images and narrative on three women for the on line archive on Chicana art and Artists.
Reading List:
Course Reader:
“And Yes …The Earth Did Part- On the Splitting of Chicana/o Subjectivity”
Chapter 3-Building with our Hands: New Directions in Chicana Studies
Angie Chabram Dernersesian
“Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whores Mask: The Mirror of Malinchism”
Chapter 3-Chicano Art: Inside Outside the Master’s House
By Alicia Gaspar De Alba
“Toward a Re-Vision of Chicana/o Theater History: The Roles of Women in El Teatro Campesino”
Chapter 3 – El Teatro Campesino: Theater in the Chicano Movement
Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez
“Raising Community Consciousness with Public Art: The Guadalupe Mural Project”
Chapter 5-Spirit Poles and Flying Pigs
By Erika Doss
“On the Politics of Change”
Affirmative Acts: Political Essays
By June Jordan
“El Mundo Femenino: Chicana Artists of the Movement-A Commentary on Development and Production”
CARA: Chicano Art Resistance and Affirmation
By Amalia Mesa Bains
“Art Official Histories”
Aztlan: A journal of Chicano Studies, Spring 1998
By Chon Noriega
“Speaking Secrets Living Chicana Theory”
Living Chicana Theory
By Deena J. Gonzalez
“Judy Baca: Our People are the Internal Exiles”
Making Face, Making Soul: Haciendo Caras, edited by Gloria Anzaldua
Diane Neumaier,
Books:
Art on My Mind: Visual Politics
By Bell Hooks
New Press; ISBN: 1565842634
Other Visions, Other Voices: Women Political Artists in Greater Los Angeles
By Paul Von Blum
University Press of America; ISBN: 0819194751
Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loose Canons
By Paula Gunn Allen
Beacon Pr; ISBN: 080704640X
Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza
by Gloria Anzaldua,
Consortium Book Sales & Dist; ISBN: 1879960567
On reserve at SPARC and Powell:
The Obstacle Race
By Germaine Greer
Out of Print/On reserve at SPARC & Powell Library
Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985
WEEK ONE -: INTRODUCTION
PRESENTOR: Judith F. Baca : the Obstacle Race and Women Artists in History
READINGS: Reader: Raising Community Consciousness with Public Art: The Guadalupe Mural Project by Erika Doss, Judy Baca: Our People are the Internal Exiles by Diane Neumaier,
Other Visions, Other Voices: Introduction, chapter. 5 Judy Baca
CARA: Chicano Art Resistance and Affirmation: El Mundo Femenino: Chicana Artists of the Movement-A Commentary on Development and Production by Amalia Mesa-Bains
ASSIGNMENT: Research work of Amalia Mesa Bains
WEEK TWO –
CHICANA IDENTITIES
PRESENTOR:
READINGS: Borderlands/La Frontera, chapters 1-7
WEEK THREE-
WHO’S TELLING THIS STORY ANYWAY?
PRESENTOR:
READINGS: Off the Reservation: Chap. 12-Looking Back: Ethics in the Western Formalist Tradition, Chap. 13-Who’s Telling This Story, Anyway?, Chap. 14-Thus Spake Pocahontas
Reader: Art Official Histories by Chon Noriega, Speaking Secrets Living Chicana Theory by Deena J. Gonzalez
ASSIGNMENT: Research work of Ester Hernandez
WEEK FOUR-
TOPIC: ARTISTAS MALINCHISTAS
PRESENTOR: READINGS:
Reader: “And Yes… The Earth Did Part”: On The Splitting of Chicana/o Subjectivity by Angie Chabram Dernersesian,
Toward a Re-Vision of Chicana/o Theater History: The Roles of Women in El Teatro Campesino by Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez,
Out of the House, The Halo And The Whores Mask: The Mirror of Malinchismo by Alicia Gaspar de Alba
ASSIGNMENT: Research work of Linda Vallejo
WEEK FIVE-
THE ARTISTS VOICE
PRESENTOR:
READINGS: Art on My Mind: The Poetics of Soul: Art for Everyone-Talking Art with Alison Saar, Diasporic Landscapes of Longing-Talking Art with Carrie Mae Weems, Aesthetic Interventions- Straighten Up and Fly Right: Talking Art with Emma Amos, Intervening Printmakers: Talking Art with Margot Humphteys
Reader: Quest for Identity: Profile of Two Chicana Muralists by Amalia Mesa-Bains
ASSIGNMENT: Midterm presentations. Students upload to class website their research with images research work one Chicana Artist
WEEK SIX-
TOPIC: SPIRITUALITIES
PRESENTOR:
READINGS: Off the Reservation: Part I
“Art On My Mind: Talking Art as the Spirit Moves Us”
ASSIGNMENT: Research on Amalia Mesa-Bains
WEEK SEVEN-:
MAKING A LIVING
PRESENTOR:
READING: Research your final paper
ASSIGNMENT: Write an outline of your final paper
WEEK EIGHT–
RETELLING HISTORY
PRESENTOR:
READING: Other Visions, Other Voices, and Chapter 8 Barbara Carrasco
WEEK NINE-:
THE PERSONAL-POLITICAL VOICE
PRESENTOR:
READING: CARA: Chicano Art Resistance and Affirmation, In the City of Angels, Chameleons, and Phantoms: Asco, a Case Study of Chicano Art in Urban Tones (or Asco Was a Four-Member Word) by Harry Gamboa, Jr.
WEEK TEN-: CONCLUSION
Conclusions
FINAL PAPER DUE WEEK 10