Monthly Archives: March 2017

Writing Blog Entry 5

Writing Journal

Final Reflections

I enjoyed this class. I am now more knowledgeable about the Mexican Revolution, Los Tres Grandes and Frida Kahlo, and about art performances. Although it has only been about three months studying these topics, I am vastly more aware of my surroundings. I have also come to learn a lot more on the street art movement. Not only is street art a representation of a community, but it is also a social movement towards misjudgments. Street art was and still is correlated with gang activity despite not being true. As I finished my research paper, I came to realize my point of view on public art, specifically with unauthorized art. I still have the same opinion: public art does not need to be sanctioned by someone because any artist could expose their artwork on the streets even if there is a catch to it. To reach more audiences though, the artists would need to expose their artwork in a larger extent.

I am grateful to have learned so much of Frida Kahlo. She has now become one of my role models as to how I would like to think about certain subjects. Although her image is part of the feminist movement, Frida represents a strong, female figure who will speak against any injustice to her or her family. This class has made me more critical of my surroundings as well. When I return to Chicago, I will not only stare at the graffiti and murals on the walls, but do my best to acknowledge what sort of meaning if any, they are trying to capture.

Writing Blog Entry 4

Writing Journal

Final Draft of Research Paper

My final draft of my research paper was only about five pages of writing, but with the works cited and annotated bibliographies, it became about eight pages. I started to become a bit worried about my paper possibly being longer than 15 pages. On this final draft of my research paper, I thought I had everything well organized. I was planning on splitting my final research paper in three parts. The first part focused on the street artist Vhils, while the second part focused on Swoon, and the last part focused on Blu. Near the end of my paper, I was going to discuss how they all fought for the true representation of the common people’s struggles.

Once I looked over my “final draft”, I knew my thesis incorporated part of what we had learned in class, but it still needed to be revised. Also, focusing on the street artists separately did not help my thesis much if I was going to include the Mexican muralists afterwards. It would have been a paragraph included at the end of the paper, but it would be off topic relating back to my thesis “despite graffiti’s negative connotation, the artistic movement, street art, has been a form for artists to provide social awareness, social justice, and an expression of the common people”. Finally, I realized that I needed more research so that I could make Vhils the focus of my paper while comparing him to the other two street artists, Swoon and Blu. Once I had that covered, I could include the Mexican muralists. I connected them based on their same end goal even if some art was authorized while the other artwork was unsanctioned.

Writing Blog Entry 3

Writing Journal

Oral Presentation

For the oral presentation, I felt prepared to explain the subject of my final research paper, but I still was not set on what my paper was going to focus on. I was also nervous for this presentation, because I’m not comfortable talking in front of people. The day before my presentation, I made sure my WordPress contained the important details such as the About Me page, Homepage, and all the tabs that I was going to use. I tried my best not focus so much on the aesthetic part of the project because I would have taken longer to have my WordPress prepared to show the class. I included some images here and there relating to Frida Kahlo and the course in general.

Once it was time for me to present my WordPress, I felt confident to show the class what I had been working on so long. I explained my project, at that time stating that I was focusing on the main argument of how street art was important to the society of today. On my WordPress, I also included an image of my final project for my Drawing I class. I was feeling very motivated to have put Rivera’s “fantasy” technique to use. It was the mosaic style although not actual glass but pieces of paper, that reminded me of Rivera’s murals. After my presentation, I felt proud about the topic of research paper, but I still had a lot more to focus on throughout the next few weeks.