Cover
The cover of my surrealist book is a childhood inspired collage. This piece is in it's own way a childhood dream. The title is Coconut Milk Soup because it's my favorite food
Surrealist Quote
"yo naci un dia que dios estuvo enfermo" this is a quote is by cesar vallejo it translates to "God was sick the day I was born" I chose this quote because I thought it captured how raw the surrealist movement was
Dada/Surrealist Poem
We took random words we liked in magazines and shook them in a bag and placed them in random order and made poems out of them
Surrealism in the Round
"I want to believe"-Henry Teare////paint on paper
Collage
this collage is made of colors that caught my eye in an attempt to make a surrealist piece
Ode to Sheets
I wrote this about my experience with my bedroom and the linens I have
Self Portrait
Art Shelf
2016 Voter Information Night at HTHI
This is the cover to my District 9 City Councilor information book
The first two pages are split. The left side of the page is dedicated to political quotes from famous people. The right side is talking about District 9 and what is is
This image is all dedicated to the one-pager me and my partner wrote about the candidates. I chose these quotes cause they are from two of my favorite writers. Kurt Vonnegut's is a kind of crisis I often have about everyone around me running the world and how that will look like. The bottom quote is from Oscar Wilde. I like to think that it is about how all political parties kind of subtly have ulterior motives
This next picture is a poem analysis of "I am waiting" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
This is a one-pager doing a side by side comparison of the two candidates running for San Diego's District 9 City Council. The job is dealing with local complaints from the district about things like potholes, streetlights, etc. I wrote about candidate Ricardo Flores who was competing for the job against Georgette Gomez; both left-wing sensible people. Georgette Gomez won the election.
Harlem Renaissance Mash Up
This project required a mash up from an art piece from a Langston Hughes poem The Weary Blues and two Travis Scott songs Pornography and Apple Pie.
Mash Up Piece #1 Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes is a piece about someone who appears to be an old black man. He is well versed in blues and quotes pieces of his songs in the poem. I chose this poem because Langston Hughes uses this sort of deciving format with this poem. It rhymes and can be read in a lively tone. My point with this is without deep analisys deep writing can be over-looked. At face value this piece is about a wise black man who is a talented blues player. Apon deeper inspection he is a sad old black man who has seen many things and kind of just wants to die now.
Mash Up Piece #2 Travis Scott
The two Travis Scott songs I chose are both off of his album titled "Rodeo". Throughout the songs rapper T.I. narrarates this reoccoring voice that is kind of like a guidence through how you might think Travis Scott's story to the top might have looked like. At face value these songs are just ordinary modern day rap song. When paying attention to the narration you can really follow a story line which outlines Scott's journey through his younger life. I chose the songs Pornography and Apple Pie because they are crucial songs to the album but also when compared to Langston Hughes' piece is a continuation of this T.I. narrative.
Artist Statement
The poem The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes and Travis Scott’s songs Pornography and Apple Pie have close tie-ins regarding the issues of the black struggle in america. They both demonstrate how apon face value their lyrical work can be taken for typical pieces of their time period. Langston Hughes’s piece having a sort of light and rhyme-y feel, but looking closer it is really about a sad black blues player who has had enough of what life has to offer. While Travis Scott’s songs can be taken for modern day rap songs but looking closer it is about his young life and his coming of age. In my mash up piece I tried to accomplished a combination of the sad blues player on his way out and the new rapper who has the whole world to discover.
My reading ladder
- We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (64 pages)
- Palo Alto by James Franco (240 pages)
- The Stranger by Albert Camus (123 pages)
- Slaughterhouse V by Kurt Vonnegut(288 pages)
- Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (303 pages)
- Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (304 pages)
- Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh (348 pages)
We Should All Be Feminists was easy because the language was simple; it was short but it was still captivating. I finished this book in one day. This book gave me a better grasp on a marginalized women of modern day feminism. Palo Alto was a good book it was just to preachy too young millennials and it kind of frustrated me how much people fuss over this book. The Stranger was easy to read because it was captivating. I had a very strong connection with what the main character in the book so that made it more enticing to read more. Slaughterhouse V has become one of my favorite books of all time it wasn’t difficult to ready but i wouldn’t consider it a breeze. Some sections I found myself re-reading to gain a better understanding. Breakfast of Champions was also an instant classic for the Henry’s bookshelf. I loved how this book carried itself. It took serious issues and talked about them with such a light tone you could barely tell it was a dark book. Cat’s Cradle was really hard for me to get into but it had an interesting plot. Trainspotting was by far the hardest book I’ve read. It’s all written phonetically in a Scottish accent. I did enjoy this book just not as much as the other previous books.
This is the first time I’ve willingly read books in my free time. Even though it was assigned. I got some really good book suggestions from peers so that boosted my book count by a lot. I usually don’t read that much. I hope to continue reading more and more difficult pieces.
Next semester I will reading more fine texts from writers. More pieces of writing that have contributed to greater society in the past. I want to read these to get a different perspective on things in the world.
Chicano Park
Above is an original image taken from Chicano Park during our field trip as a class to Barrio Logan. This is an image is of a memorial for a car accident that occored when a car flew off the bridge and landed in the park. This image shows the immense sense of community in Chicano Park. It's important to me because I like to see representations of people who care.
What is the Purpose of Art
I believe the purpose of art is to find a medium of communication that doesn’t directly represent what it's talking about. For example, During our “Ode to Common Things” poem writing I chose to write about my bed in a piece called Ode to Sheets. I talked about all the different things a bed and a person go through. Being washed and slept on and getting made beautiful again. I tried to tap into how people’s beds reflect their character. Through all of the projects we’ve completed this semester, I began to understand a little bit more why art means so much to society. I like to consider myself someone who can easily tap into their creative side so, it was easier for me to grasp the value of art. To me, art was something pretty I could look at for a few seconds until I moved on to the next piece. As of recently I can take a lot of time appreciating art and the artistic process that is shown in whatever art I’m looking at.
The collaboration between my literature and art class is what helped me gain an even more positive perspective on high art. This semester I’ve learned that when I have a vision if I stick to it and spend time I know I can make whatever it is look presentable. I’ve learned that art brings people together, like the murals in Chicano Park. They were constructed by residents in the Barrio Logan area. After fighting the government's oppressive authority and getting a dump taken out of their area, they finally got to claim that space as Chicano Park. The Harlem Renaissance was also a huge inspiration for me to gather more information on fine art. Learning about the Harlem and Chicano Renaissances helped me to understand that to some people, their art is everything. Art is all around us and this semester I’ve learned to respect the artistic process and know that making aesthetically pleasing art can take a lot of time. To reiterate, the purpose of art is to teach people what's going on inside your head; how you see and deal with it, why you see it and when. Art has carried the greatest purpose throughout the years.
The collaboration between my literature and art class is what helped me gain an even more positive perspective on high art. This semester I’ve learned that when I have a vision if I stick to it and spend time I know I can make whatever it is look presentable. I’ve learned that art brings people together, like the murals in Chicano Park. They were constructed by residents in the Barrio Logan area. After fighting the government's oppressive authority and getting a dump taken out of their area, they finally got to claim that space as Chicano Park. The Harlem Renaissance was also a huge inspiration for me to gather more information on fine art. Learning about the Harlem and Chicano Renaissances helped me to understand that to some people, their art is everything. Art is all around us and this semester I’ve learned to respect the artistic process and know that making aesthetically pleasing art can take a lot of time. To reiterate, the purpose of art is to teach people what's going on inside your head; how you see and deal with it, why you see it and when. Art has carried the greatest purpose throughout the years.