ERIC Number: EJ998667
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 11
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0005-2604
EISSN: N/A
On Faith, Dreams, and Art
Sanchez, Marta
Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies, v37 n2 p207-217 Fall 2012
As a child, the author saw that art held a daily purpose for her family. It inspired her grandmother to worship and communicate to God and her many saints. This art uplifted them with spiritual, miraculous images that taught them morals based on the narratives of the image. The first work of art she owned was a painting given to her by her Tia Cecilia. It was a five-by-seven-inch canvas board painting of Jesus. She chose it from the many small paintings being sold by a street vendor passing by her grandmother's home on Rivas Street in San Antonio. When she shared it with her parish priest he told her not to pray to the painting, but directly to the Lord. These early everyday experiences of icons led her to create images that held a purpose culturally, as well as for art's sake. She believed that by doing this she could help decode their history and demystify her culture, which she saw so often misrepresented in the '60s in television, books, and the popular media as a whole. Her art recognizes individual people by noting them and their actions or work through art. Her work slowly turned from being purely artistic to becoming art that served a purpose as she evolved from being a student, to an artist, to a Chicana artist. It made sense to work as a Chicana with a specific aesthetic in art making, and for a great cause. Since the 1970s, her work has taken on more liberal themes, including her expectations and dreams for Chicana/os. Faith, dreams, and art made it possible for her to continue a lifelong narrative that recognizes people and their accomplishments. For her it began with a series of marks, to sketching Flintstone jelly jars and other comic strips to mail correspondence classes (drawing Bambi) to learning fundamental drawing techniques in college. Regardless of where she is living, the author will always be a Chicana from San Antonio, Texas. The varied approach of sharing art, history, and activism through folkloric references has worked hand-in-hand in her work. (Contains 11 figures.)
Descriptors: Artists, Studio Art, Grandparents, Religion, Religious Factors, Spiritual Development, Clergy, Art, History, Hispanic Americans, Aesthetics, Freehand Drawing, Self Concept, Activism, Folk Culture
UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. 193 Haines Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1544. Tel: 310-794-9380; Tel: 310-825-2642; Fax: 310-206-1784; e-mail: press@chicano.ucla.edu; Web site: http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/press
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Texas
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A