assignment 4

This course has made me think differently about certain things. When I first read the course description before I took the class, it seemed interesting so I signed up for it. When I did, I thought it would be all about looking at art pieces made by women. I thought the class would be feminist. It turns out that it was more than that. The class gave more input to just looking at art pieces, it gave information behind art in general and feminism.
The story of the course was finding out how art affects each and every one of us in our everyday lives. During the first few weeks of the course we got an introduction about art and feminism. We had to go to museums and look at different types of art and we had to make our own assumptions about each museums and the art in there. I think this helped the students get a better understanding of art. After we went to the museums, we went to class to discuss what we had seen and what our assumptions where. The teacher gave us a little more information behind each museum and that furthered our understanding about each of our assumptions. I believe this introduction was put in to help us better understand art and clear out any assumptions we may have had.
The next weeks were about art and feminist activism. We had to read the books Fight Like a Girl and New Creative Community. Both these books talked about how to start being an activist and gave tips and ideas. I remember we talked about the shadow project in class and how we ourselves could get involved. I also remember another form of activism which was about how people would change billboard signs to say something against what the billboard was actually advertising.
We were assigned a project where each section had to work together. We were supposed to come up with a feminist event and a definition of feminism. Our event was about raising awareness of domestic violence. As guests, we had many celebrity speakers and singers, some of which included the Spice Girls, Christina Aguilera, and Oprah. Our definition of feminism was strong, independent people who raise their voice to fight for equality amongst women and men. In our event each guest had a past of domestic violence and was raising their voice against it. This part of the course tried to show us that we can get involved and make difference in our communities.
For the next weeks, the class was mainly about seeing art and feminism in our everyday lives. We read Kindred in those weeks. That was a very interesting book. The main character would go back in time to save her ancestor’s life. It showed how well the main character was affected if something would happen to one of her ancestors. If something did happen to that ancestor, she would most likely not exist so she had to save him or her everyday life would be come to an end.
We also discussed the matrix of domination. It was a diagram showing marked and unmarked categories. The marked categories were specific and included the oppressed. The unmarked categories were general and included the privileged. All this led up to our third assignment which was the analysis of our everyday lives. We had to include in it where we landed in the matrix of domination whether we were oppressed or privileged. This assignment really helped us see where we stand within power. It led us to an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of each category. For example, with the category of class, if one is in the working or poor class, one has less of a chance of getting into a university but if one is in middle or upper class there is a greater chance of getting into a university. During these weeks we learned how power affects us everywhere we go.
The last weeks of the class were about taking action. In class we saw a video someone made with the music of Chicle Atomico. In the video, it showed various t-shirts showing words and graphics that may seem rebellious and going against laws. For example, one t-shirt said “DAUGHTER OF AN ILLEAGAL ALIEN.” Another one said, “Warning: due to shortage of robots, this worker is a human being and may react unpredictably if abused.” The t-shirts were a way of taking action in something someone did not like and putting it out in public just the as the maker of the video did by posting the video on YouTube. Those people took action which was what the last part of the course was teaching.
I picture the story of the course to be how art affects our everyday lives because that was what I learned through each teaching. It made me realize art was just not looking at paintings or sculptures. Art can be done through being an activist and speaking out about things we do not like that may affect us every day which also shows what feminist do. Each part of the course connected to show how art and feminism can be a unique part of our lives. Each part led up to the next part. For example, the first part of the course was an introduction about art and feminism. This led up to us learning what feminist activist do through books like Fight like a Girl.
I can put myself in this story because I think I learned more about myself through this course. In the first assignment, we had to come up with assumptions about each museum. I found myself coming up with things I would have never thought about if I had not visited those museums. One assumption I had was when I went to the American Indian museum. I saw that American Indian boys collected elk teeth to give to their future wives. It was a symbol of marriage. The women would sow each one onto their wedding dress. I assumed that there would be no special symbol of marriage in tribes but I was wrong. I gained a lot of knowledge by doing the third assignment. I never thought that there would be a diagram showing who the privileged and the oppressed were. I found myself being in both the oppressed and privileged groups. There was an even mixture. For example, for the oppressed group, I am Hispanic, female, and speak Spanish. But for the privileged group, I am heterosexual, U.S. citizen, Christian, and middle class. The assignment did make me realize that it is really hard for the oppressed group to succeed and it showed me in what areas it was harder. For example, in the category of nationality, you have to be a U.S. citizen in order to vote and change things in the country. If you are an undocumented alien and there is something you do not like you cannot make a change legally. The matrix of domination taught me that certain categories can and has changed. In the category race, the only races included back in the 1950s were whites, blacks, and other. But now there are many other races included in the category.
Being in the discussion groups gave me a better understanding of each piece of the course. Students were able to discuss the readings and gain a better understanding of it. Each person contributed their thought or idea in the section about the reading or any other topic we were discussing. I contributed by giving the thought I had about each reading and also by posting a post about a reading on the blog. The post was on chapter one of the book But is it Art? Also when we did assignment two, I contributed by giving ideas on how the event could be organized.
What worked for me throughout the course was when my TA would give out handouts in our discussion class about a topic we were discussing or more information on how to do an assignment. It helped me out a lot in order to do my assignments. Throughout the course, I was able to connect my experiences with each assignment either by making new ones like going to the museums or using old ones like my background culture. The teacher and TA also helped me out by discussing each assignment in depth.
Out of all the readings, the three that I found the most interesting were the first and fourth chapters of the Freeland book and the book Kindred. But is it Art? chapter one caught my attention because of the disturbing pieces of art it talked about. I found the fourth chapter interesting because it talked about where the money is coming from in order to hang art in a museum. Kindred was interesting to me because I had never read a science fiction book. The other books like New Creative Community did not interest me because it talked more about being an activist and that does not appeal to me.
The first chapter in But is it Art had my face making a disgusting gesture because of what I read as the first paragraph. The author states that at a conference, artists on stage were using blood as part of their performance. I was just very appalled when I read that. Then it went on and gave other examples of art work like the Piss Christ. When I first saw it, I thought it was so disturbing. But also this chapter made me realize that not all art had to be beautiful. In the end, the author states that art does not only include works of formal beauty but also works that are ugly and disturbing. I agree with the author. All artists have their own style and their own way of thinking that can make their artwork great and beautiful. But still artists using blood or urine to create art can be disgusting and not very beautiful to me, just interesting.
The fourth chapter of the same book talked about how art was valued and by whom. Some art works were put in museums by wealthy people who collected art. Alexander Girard was one that made the Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe come about. Museums were also built up from private collections, like the United States National Gallery of Art. Now there are corporations that give money to museums to promote art and culture. But corporations fund exhibits in museums for their own gain. For example, government sponsored art loans are to attract investments and good foreign relations policies from other countries. Another way to gain money is from art auctions. A lot of money is made by just selling one piece of art. Van Gogh’s Irises sold for $53.9 million dollars. But with this much money being paid we may not be able to appreciate the actual artwork anymore only for how much it is worth. I liked this chapter because before I had never thought about how much art was worth or how it got to be in a museum. It made me open my eyes and gain knowledge. I came to a realization that there is more background information in the artwork.
Kindred was my favorite reading. I had never read a science fiction book before because I thought it would be boring and it was just not for me. It turns out I really enjoyed reading that book. I could not put it down once I started reading it. I kept wanting to know what happened to Rufus and Dana, especially Dana, because in the beginning it talked about her losing an arm so I wanted to find out how she lost it. During the whole story, Dana would time travel to the 1800s and back to 1976. She would go back to save her ancestor Rufus because without him she would not exist. I did not really learn anything new from this book since it was a fiction book but it was an enjoyable book. The one thing that I did think about while reading the book was that we never know who we may be connected to. Dana was black but her ancestor Rufus was white. It shows that not all of our ancestors are the same race as we are but we will never find out until we research it. In the class, I know there was a section where we discussed who we may be connected to.
The course was interesting. It made me think about things surrounding me every day that I would never think about, like power. Power is everywhere and I did not realize it until I did assignment 3. It is at home, school, and work. I learned new things about art and feminism. Art is not all just pretty landscape paintings but that it is also pictures that can be disturbing to other people like the Paulo Rego collection at the National Museum of Women and the Arts. And that feminism is not just women trying to be like men but it is about standing up for what you believe in. I liked the fact that this course made me think outside the box.