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My piece is a digital piece inspired from the chapter “Remedies” in Sabrina and Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine. The specific moment is when their grandmother finally comes to help get rid of the lice that was brought into their home by the girl’s half brother who almost acts as a symbol of the father who left. Their mother breaks down after not being able to get rid of the lice and trying so hard for Harrison to be included in their family. Finally realizing that it is not her place to take care of everyone when she can’t manage it. Accepting help and accepting a bit of weakness. This chapter was one I really related to myself, having my own half brother whose family caused a lot of problems for my family, including attempting to use me as a pathway to my father. It can be really hard to realize you don’t owe people anything, even if they are blood. I really appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this class, and I hope that everyone has a healthy and safe year!

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Sabrina & Corina stories

Reading the stories in Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine was enchantingly dark and raw, but at the same time just as triggering. I comprehend things best when I can relate and although there were plenty of moments that were relatable, there were so many more that were emotionally divided from my personal experiences. It reminded me many times how fortunate I am and to not take my situation for granted. Its also a reminder that you never know what someone is going through no matter how they carry themselves. One of the stories I found most captivating and I was close to doing my project on was the “Sisters” chapter about how two sisters struggle with their romantic preferences. I couldn’t help but picture my sister and I growing up while in and out of crazy relationships. 

“Sugar Babies” was disturbing and an emotional read for me. You can really get the feel for Sierra’s sadness and anger over her mothers abandonment to her family and how she returns whenever she wants. There are many layers to this story including her new relationship with the boy from class and how they raise their pretend baby and how the boy, Robbie’s care for her. Middle school is an interesting time indeed for many of us. It’s the period where you still have innocence of a child but the realization of life starts to kick in. Growing up in this area has its own set of rules and it was definitely captured in this chapter. 

These stories have so much depth and beauty. It was a great way to end this class and the semester and freedom to use this book towards our final project because of how much material is in this book and the reader can interpret them in their own way. Or compare them to your own life like I have. 

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Project 5: Sugar Babies

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“I kept thinking about that story,” she said. “The one about the devil at the dance. Remember?”

My grandmother told the story often. A beautiful girl disobeys her family by sneaking into a midnight dance. She’s only there for a short time when a good-looking man slinks toward her out of the crowd. She discovers he can dance well, and not just for an Anglo. He twirls her for hours until the girl notices the faces around her, wide-eyed and gape-mouthed. Her arms suddenly burn, then her lower back, and eventually her lips to throat—all the places where the man touched her. She screams as she notices that his feet, like the devil’s, are hooved.

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Art Project 5:

The collection of stories were very inspiring and unique. The story that inspired me the most was “Tomi”. This is about a woman who returns home from jail to a stressed and very different life of nothing. I decided to use the “matrix” vibe to create some sort of prison bar scene. She’s turning away from it entering her new life. The city is completely empty as it was in the story. She came back with nothing but the pain, suffering, and sadness she had with her, her whole life. As shown inside of her head. This story was about being alone and my main focus point is a female who is in solitary.

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In the book of short stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine, I found the story Cheeseman Park beautifully written and painfully relatable. For my final project for this class, I wanted to draw attention to this tale. 

My grandparents grew up in North Denver. I know for a fact, that they roll over in their grave each time someone calls it, “the highlands”. For the narrator to begin the story with a shout out to North Denver, immediately caught my attention. But as I continued reading, I shared more similarities with her than I would ever care to admit. 

I also moved to a west coast city for a brief period of time to escape Colorado only to meet a guy that would break my heart and also force me to call 911, just as Liz did when she moved to California only to fall in love with a married man to do the same. When I moved back to Denver, I turned to the comfort in alcohol and other vices to release built up trauma and pain that I had held in. I also found bizarre comfort in meeting strangers and rebelling against my mother.  

I will never forget that period of my life because it was my darkest ever and the reference in the chapter to how Cheeseman Park used to be a cemetery and how I felt close to death in a controlling and toxic relationship. But because of it, I will always appreciate the best moments. The poppies symbolize those moments. Poppies break through the snow after a long, and dark winter. They rise bright orange and strong. 

“Always remember, this is our home” is a quote Liz’s mother says to her about Denver. When I came to Colorado after returning from this dark time in my life, I could feel that message pulsing through my veins. 

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Doña Sebastiana

Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine shares any new viewer what its like from her eyes and others. During the first chapter titled “Sugar Babies” I was quickly drawn in when the young boys accidently dug up some bones near their town. Further long within the chapter, it was Robbie and his visions that drew in my inspiration for this final work. When Robbie was explaining how he wasn’t scared when he discovered the bones but more so scared of the skeleton lady that was at the foot of hid bed one night. His grandmother explained that he might have seen Doña Sebastiana. In other words, lady reaper. I went and did some more research about this lady reaper and found out that  … “She is more a symbol of mortality and penance, a bleak reminder of our fragile and sinful state. The Aztec figure known as the “Lady of the Dead,” presided over such celebrations…”* This lady reaper is known for protection and watches over those who need it. With this notion I wanted to create what I would think Doña Sebastiana would look like. I also wanted to incorporate some natural Colorado elements.

If I were to take more time on this piece, I would mess around some more with watercolor. It is a hard element and I feel like I could have done better for the boarder and her head piece/hair. I also wish my photos would have picked up on the gold highlights more then presenting them in a pale yellow tone. Over all I am pleased with this outcome and Happy to finish strong.

It was an interesting semester, but I am happy to be apart of this class and still be able to see everyone’s work. I hope everyone enjoys their break and stays safe. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

For the artwork I did a mix-media. I used watercolor, ink wash, acrylic paint, and pen ink.

*https://delgadoarts.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/dona-sebastiana-lady-sebastian/#:~:text=She%20is%20an%20unusual%20figure,our%20fragile%20and%20sinful%20state.&text=The%20Aztec%20figure%20known%20as,%2C%E2%80%9D%20presided%20over%20such%20celebrations.

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Art Project #5

For my response to the book “Sabrina and Corrina,” I chose to make a collage of the final story in the book “Ghost Sickness.” I chose to have my background setting for the collage as the Navajo creation story. This not only shows the story’s representation, but also sets the stage for one to be interested in Native American history/culture. I chose to include a representation of a Navajo college student found from a Google search as Ana and another photo from Google of a Navajo man to represent Clifton. I also added in a failing test to demonstrate Ana’s worry of failing her class as well as the bear chasing the car Clifton drives off the cliff. 

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Art Project 4: Performance Art

I took a couple American Sign Language classes back in high school, so I decided to dedicate this project to the beauty of Sign Language. Sign Language isn’t a very common thing you see on a daily basis. Sometimes at debates or political talks or other types of performances, there is usually a person who is signing what the speaker is saying for those who are hard of hearing at the event.

American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete, natural language that has the same linguistic properties as spoken languages, with grammar that differs from English. ASL is expressed by movements of the hands and face. It is the primary language of many North Americans who are deaf and hard of hearing, and is used by many hearing people as well. I am not deaf or hard of hearing but learning this type of language back in high school was pretty cool because I got to experience what deaf people have to go. If you ever want to learn another language, I would suggest learning Sign Language because this is one that beats all others and a great learning opportunity. As the years go by, I have forgotten how to do most of the signs I learned in those classes but one that stuck around was the alphabet.

So, enjoy my one minute performance art of me signing the alphabet in Sign Language and then at the end, I spell my name. 

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STIMULATION

This video was meant to be aim towards the feeling of wanting constant stimulation. Recently, I’ve sometimes noticed, or felt, that I have been caught in a sort of trance of wanting consistent entertainment. Sometimes it seems like I obsessively scroll through my phone, play movies, or re-watch shows that I’ve seen too many times already; not for any reason in particular, but just because I have this urge to do so. I think this constant “need” for stimulation, and maybe even escape, is “sucking me in” and then draining me of my energy or even my life in a way.

The video inside of this video with music to the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO9aot9RgQc

Max Cooper - Repetition

Directed by   Kevin McGloughlin

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Art Project 4: One Minute Performance

In honor of the legendary Masters golf tournament, I decided to dedicate this project to the the game of golf. For the first time in history the Masters tournament will be played in the fall instead of it’s usual early April weekend. It is a historical weekend that anyone of the fan of the game looks forward to all year, including me!

Golf is game that requires a great deal from the person playing and can teach you many things of life as well as golf. It is not only a game for guys in goofy pants and a fat ass as Happy Gilmore would suggest. In my years of playing, I can make parallels with personal situations to the game of golf. For instance, I started playing serious golf when I was 25. I was so embarrassed to start and felt I was too old in the game to start playing. I am 31 now and have competed in countless tournaments, religiously playing in leagues and have even made a hole in one! When I contemplated on returning back to school and I was so nervous, I somehow compared it to when I started golf. I was new to that and it took time and practice but the best things in life do. I never found so much solace, frustration, friendship and have found the love of my life in what I have found playing this stupid, addicting game. And now I am finding that same enjoyment and achievement being back in school.

Here is my One Minute Performance of me putting on the practice green this beautiful, fall evening. Much love, friends.

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Technical Exercise 4: Transforming Richard Serra's Verb List

TO PLAY

TO SWING

TO BURP

TO GULP

TO HURRY

TO SQUAT

TO SCRATCH

TO DANCE

TO LAUGH

TO PAINT

TO CREATE

TO FLOAT

TO KICK

TO CHEW

TO CHILL

TO SCREAM

TO FREEZE

TO WONDER

TO CLIMB

TO FLY

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This is awesome, I grew up playing softball so MLB was the only major sport I really understood and people always talked shit about it being boring and I always thought, “clearly you’ve never played.” It’s as eargasmic as a swoosh and you nailed it. It’s total extreme athleticism and there isn’t a sound like it in the world. Great job. I could watch this over and over.

“SuperCut”.

My project “BatCracks” is one short minute of the best bat cracks in baseball. Everyone’s complaint about baseball is how boring it is. Well, i have the solution for you. Bat Cracks allows the viewer to see the action and excitement in baseball, which is the homerun. These are the best of the best hitting the ball with extreme power and extreme athleticism. This one minute clip will let the viewer enjoy the baseball without having to view the “boring” parts.

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Response 4: Performance Art

In the first reading by Rosalee Goldberg, Performance: A Hidden History, is a in-depth discussion of the almost disputed topic of performance art, where it came from and where in the art category it’s considered as Art and as Goldberg describes as the crossbreeding of arts. For hundreds of years, humans have been expressing themselves in many different ways and performance art is certainly another way we have done so. From the Futurists to the Dadaists in Europe, Goldberg gives a brief but powerful history and background of the movement that comes and goes in waves. With what is happening politically, we see performance artists creating and adapting to the world around them which has paved the way for concerts, media and film to this day. Although it is not painting or drawing, performance is still a way to tell history with ourselves and our bodies. I enjoyed this reading because I have always enjoyed concerts and the more theatrical- the better.

In The Other History of Intercultural Performance by Coco Fusco, Fusco describes in detail when her and her collaborative partner, Guillermo Gomez-Pe’nia, created an interactive exhibit acting like a primitive pair from a fictitious island off the coast of Mexico. In the exhibit, was their example of showing how white people are so amazed and confused which they compared to Christopher Columbus coming to America and the Europeans not seeing the Native people as actual people. I recently watched Borat 2 and this made me compare Sacha Baron Cohen to some of these early performance artists and what is does is similar to what Fusco and her partner did with this performance. Like in the video, The Case for Performance, this work makes you so uncomfortable and its so cringe-worthy that is provokes thought and discussion. 

I totally consider performance art as important or impactful as painting or music or what is normally considered ‘art.’ It takes guts, creativity and emotion. If you are making someone think, cry or laugh, that is art. It can be a history lesson or personal lesson depending on the viewer or what the viewer is going through. 

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Art Project 3: One Minute Super Cut

Communication Strategies You Should Avoid

Do you struggle with greeting someone? Do you get anxiety when the phone rings? Well this video is a perhaps not the best example for you. Here is my super cut for people from shows or movies greeting people. It was definitely a fun challenge to come up with some of these and to shorten them to under :08 seconds was an even larger challenge. Combining both lighter and darker moments in the clips that we’ve seen before but cutting off the content for what they are meant in hopefully gives the viewer the sense that the following scene could go any way. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThdaFfyvrYQ

Sources-

Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Breaking Bad

The Office

The Dark Knight

Billy Madison

Adele- Hello

Schitt’s Creek

Superbad

Silence of the Lambs

The Shining

Scream

Beetlejuice

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Technical Exercise 3: Music Video

Africa Dammit!

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The Loop

Artist Statement:

Ever since I was young, I have a had a deep love for Disney. When assigned to make gifs for this project, it was a no brainer to create gifs from some of my favorite moments of my childhood. The moments captured in these gifs are sweet, funny, daunting, suspenseful, and interesting.