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SYLLABUS CHICANA ART AND ARTISTSA COURSE OF THE CESAR CHAVEZ CENTERBY PROFESSOR JUDITH F. BACA, FALL 2008

MEETING TIME: 4 UNITS

Introduction to Chicana Art and ArtistsThe 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 StudiesAngie 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 PigsBy Erika Doss

“On the Politics of Change”Affirmative Acts: Political EssaysBy June Jordan

“El Mundo Femenino: Chicana Artists of the Movement-A Commentary on Development and Production”CARA: Chicano Art Resistance and AffirmationBy Amalia Mesa Bains

“Art Official Histories”Aztlan: A journal of Chicano Studies, Spring 1998By Chon Noriega

“Speaking Secrets Living Chicana Theory”Living Chicana TheoryBy Deena J. Gonzalez

“Judy Baca: Our People are the Internal Exiles”Making Face, Making Soul: Haciendo Caras, edited by Gloria AnzalduaDiane Neumaier,

Books:Art on My Mind: Visual PoliticsBy Bell HooksNew Press; ISBN: 1565842634

Other Visions, Other Voices: Women Political Artists in Greater Los AngelesBy Paul Von BlumUniversity Press of America; ISBN: 0819194751

Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loose CanonsBy Paula Gunn AllenBeacon Pr; ISBN: 080704640X

Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestizaby Gloria Anzaldua,Consortium Book Sales & Dist; ISBN: 1879960567

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On reserve at SPARC and Powell:

The Obstacle RaceBy Germaine GreerOut of Print/On reserve at SPARC & Powell Library

Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985

WEEK ONE -: INTRODUCTIONPRESENTOR: Judith F. Baca : the Obstacle Race and Women Artists in HistoryREADINGS: 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 BacaCARA: Chicano Art Resistance and Affirmation: El Mundo Femenino: Chicana Artists of the Movement-A Commentary on Development and Production by Amalia Mesa-BainsASSIGNMENT: Research work of Amalia Mesa Bains

WEEK TWO –CHICANA IDENTITIESPRESENTOR: 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 PocahontasReader: Art Official Histories by Chon Noriega, Speaking Secrets Living

Chicana Theory by Deena J. GonzalezASSIGNMENT: Research work of Ester Hernandez

WEEK FOUR- TOPIC: ARTISTAS MALINCHISTASPRESENTOR: 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 AlbaASSIGNMENT: Research work of Linda Vallejo

WEEK FIVE- THE ARTISTS VOICEPRESENTOR: 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 HumphteysReader: Quest for Identity: Profile of Two Chicana Muralists by Amalia Mesa-BainsASSIGNMENT: 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 LIVINGPRESENTOR: READING: Research your final paperASSIGNMENT: Write an outline of your final paper

WEEK EIGHT- RETELLING HISTORYPRESENTOR: READING: Other Visions, Other Voices, and Chapter 8 Barbara Carrasco

WEEK NINE-: THE PERSONAL-POLITICAL VOICEPRESENTOR: 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

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Conclusions

FINAL PAPER DUE WEEK 10