Chicano Art Research Paper

“I'm not Mexican. I am not American. I am not American in USA and Mexican in Mexico. I am Chicano everywhere. I do not have to assimilate anything. I have my own history”, stated the writer and novelist Carlos Fuentes. The Chicano subculture is the mixture of the Mexican and the American cultures. This subculture has its own history and unique characterizations that make it stand out. According to the Merriam Webster dictonary the word subculture is defined as “a group that has beliefs and behaviors that are different from the main groups within a culture or society”. The Chicano subculture has a history, language, leaders, art, literature, and even their music, and it’s the perfect example for this definition of the word subculture.

As part of the “movimiento” Chicano artist needed an outlet to portray and protest societal inequality. They wanted to advocate ethnic identity as well as wanting to express self-identification. Consequently, they began to convey their message through art in murals, posters, magazines, logos, etc., which is considered public art. These Chicano artists wanted to represent the facet of the battle for human rights. Let’s take

The Chicano art movement rose during the civil rights era was based on three goals that included restoral of land, education reforms rights for farm workers. The three goals followed by the Chicano Art artists had long been coming. One of the first goals included rights for farm workers. Arguably, the Mexicans Americans fight to secure unionization for the farm workers was one of the key goals of the Chicano art. In order to Sway the grape farmers, Cesar Chavez launched a national boycott that aimed at the American Farm

Discrimination has been the brawn of injustices done to people of color. Most don't know of the Chicano struggle in the United Stated for the past four to six generations. Chicanos in America were forced to face chaos, poverty, and pain. Chicano, by Richard Vasquez is a perfect example of how Mexican Americans and Chicanos were treated in America during the 90's. Although Chicanos faced a burdensome life in America, lots of customs and culture immigrated to America with them, which has fabricated the Chicano Culture. The book Chicano profoundly demonstrates how hard it was for a Mexican family to immigrate to America. Once Chicanos started a life in America, it was very hard to get out of it. Mexicans were not socially accepted because

Chicanos felt that as a nation, the history has had some significant Chicano influence that also needed to be recognized and taught within our school system. They also felt that the institutions that let this country function like law enforcement, government and education, were set up to systematically work against the Chicano. This was their way to identify themselves with the struggle against such entities.

Hispanics or Latinos are defined as a people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish speaking culture. This term “Hispanics” was created by the U.S. federal government in the early 1970’s to refer to Americans born in a Spanish speaking nation or with ancestry to Spanish territories. Hispanics people are vibrant, socializing, and fun loving people. Among various facts associated to this culture is that they have a deep sense of involvement in their family traditions and cultures.

The Mexican Americans thought of themselves as "Americans" and they stressed their American citizenship in the basis of being treat equaly under the law that offered freedom and equality to all its citizens. Being Chicano represents the struggle of being a citizens of an Anglo society while being raised in the Hispanic culture. Chicanos are proudm of their heritage but they are also aware of their American culture. These American citizens had suffer from discrimination based on their Spanish surmane and because they keep their customs form their Hispanic culture. They have been denied equal acdces to education, jobs, healthcare and politcal representation.

The portrayal and the representation of the Chicano Art Movements are entrenched by the Mexican-American artist who institute artistic personalities and identities in the United States. The plenteous amount of the artist is massively influenced by the immense Chicano Movement (El Movimiento) which, was established in the 1960’s. The influence of Chicano Art was due to the Mexican- Revolution philosophy, art of Pre-Columbia and indubitably European techniques of painting, cultural, social, political issues. The movement took a stand to fight against stereotypes of Mexican- Americans conducive and to resist typical social norms. The movement to concentrate on awareness of collective history, equal opportunity, grants and social mobility. Chicanos have used the movement in pursuit of expressing their cultural values. Ever since it first appeared in America the art of Chicanos has matured to illustrate common struggle and social issues in conjunction with uniting the youth of the Chicano people to their culture and history. Chicano Art is not only Mexican- American artwork; it further emphasizes and accentuates the histories of the Chicano people in a superb and sublime way of American art.

David Montejano in his book Quixote’s Soldiers describes the Chicano movement as a way of helping the Mexican American community to be accepted in the United States. The book is

The Chicano Movement is about negative ethnic stereotypes of Mexicans in mass media and the American consciousness.

Chicano studies originated in the late 1960’s and 1970’s during the Chicano Movement. This program was set into place to focus on Mexican-American history in hopes the

In the Preface of Major Problems in Mexican American History Zaragosa Vargas writes, "Nearly two thirds of Latinos in the United States are of Mexican descent, or Chicanos- a term of self definition that emerged during the 1960's and early 1970s civil rights movement. Chicanos reside mainly in the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Midwest. Their history begins in the precolonial Spanish era, and they share a rich mestizo cultural heritage of Spanish, Indian, and African origins. The Chicanos' past is underscored by conquest of the present-day American Southwest first by the Spanish and then by the United States following the Mexican American War" (xv). When one thinks of a Chicano one thinks of the Mayans and Aztecs, the conquests,

Mural art showed a great importance to Chicano communities by showcasing indigenous history or even romanticized beliefs.That gathered people together to focus on topics inside and outside their communities. Made young Chicanos and Chicanas focus on issues around them and let's their creativity, explore out for the best and not bad. To let people become more entwined in the cities and not create violence. For neighboring cities or visitors to see how strong and creative young and old muralists are in their art. One example is the “we are not a Minority” mural created by Mario Torero created due to the chicano right movements,located in east la, boyle heights area. Its importance was due to the fact cities were banning mural work and instead

When most individuals visualize a pencil, they envision a utensil that is used in the horrendous act of doing homework or any other school-related project. However, being a person that appreciates the beauty behind the creative mind, a pencil can have a stronger meaning than people may believe. In reality, a mustard-colored, lead-filled pencil is a vehicle of power that carries out the ideas or artistic designs of the holder from their mind onto the paper. For example, many artists throughout history have used a pencil as a basis for drawing out their inspiration and ideas before preparing their main pieces. Before an artist may start a painting, he may sketch out different ideas he envisions in his head, this technique has lead to the creation

Art murals are displayed on walls of Schools,Libraries,Churches,Museums and more. Art murals are publicized to inspire people , or to influence or represent a cause.The art mural here at IRHS was painted to inspire children,show them famous art pieces and to represent the art hallway as the art hallway. The mural contains the famous paintings water lilies,starry night,the persistence of memory, guernica and ends with a self portrait of frida Kahlo. Senior April Sedano, who has been in 2D art for 3 years said, “we wanted to livin up the art hallway ,so we thought about the most inspirational artist...so it's something people would recognize”.