Friday, October 29, 2010

Set Me free.. continues

The world around me changes and my art does too. Once I started to build the cage in a couple of hours it took this particular shape and this particular setting. It is good piece on its own. But, more than a piece is the first step for the performance.


Thursday, October 21, 2010

“What is It REDUX”

The exploration of myself and the world around me continues. For the past two weeks I have been thinking about the different ways in which I could incorporate my body as part of the art piece. The idea of presenting myself inside a cage continues but at the same time I also want to make a comment about immigration. I would like to combine both ideas at the same time.

Current ideas
I want to start by creating a cage.

1st- I will present an empty cage
2nd- I’ll be inside the cage- title of the piece “I’m an Alien “
3rd- create a collage of videos playing at the same time about immigration and project them on me.

2. Article

Buying and selling of women in Chiapas

by: Susana Solis
Source: Televisa News

In the XXI century, in Chiapas is preserved as part of the customs buying and selling women

Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, August. 18, 2005 .- In Chiapas, women are a commodity. In indigenous communities are sold by the parent and delivered as a product who is the husband.
This is the price list:
If a woman is a virgin at least 12 to 15 thousand dollars down, a widow pay 500 to a thousand pesos, a widow, if a woman has children, a widow with no children, but a woman who has children no longer pay, soda and beer only, "said Dominga Sántiz.
Dominga Sántiz Sántiz, indigenous San Juan Chamula Tzotzil whose father sold the 15 years to give to a man who knew neither his name.
In this sale, the bargaining.
"They started drinking, their talks, they were 12-thousand dollars ... Since when were in the middle of their talks, not because we are not going to pay 12 000 remaining eight," said Dominga.
The worst: the candidate first husband sexually abused her and then went shopping, Dominga tells that his family never spoke of what happened.
Dominga escaped from his home to avoid marriage and took refuge in a shelter official, where he lived for 3 years. He studied and now 20 years went to high school.
Dominga was a brave woman is lucky managed to get out of this situation, unfortunately most do not run with the same fate.
It is said that this practice is part of the customs. Women's groups say it is part of the culture of subordination that are taught to women.
It took 5 years with counseling and a safe place, Dominga could speak and recognize that these customs and traditions are those that should not keep.
I’m thinking on researching more the topic and create a piece where I’ll address my findings and opinions about this topic. I constantly use art to communicate my thoughts and ideas on a particular issue that is often hidden or ignore by others. The inspiration for my art pieces are issues that are happening around the world such as the one mentioned above.

3 Share a favorite recipe!

Yummy!!! I’ll share the recipe for
my favorite Mexican Food

“Enchiladas Verdes- Suizas” - “Swiss- green enchiladas”

Ingredients:

• 4 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast (2 to 3 breasts)
• 1 1/2 lbs tomatillos, husks and stems removed, rinsed well and dried (16 to 20 medium)
• 3 medium poblano chiles, halved lengthwise, stemmed, and seeded (I used a 28 oz. can)
• 1 -2 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• table salt
• ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 8 ounces of Oaxaca Cheese
• 12 (6 inch) corn tortillas (I used 8 8-inch flour tortillas)

Garnish
• 2 medium scallions, sliced thin
• thinly sliced radish
• sour cream

Directions:
Prep Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 1 1/4 hr
1 Heat 2 teaspoons oil in medium saucepan over medium heat until shimmering; add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes.
2 Add 2 teaspoons garlic and cumin; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
3 Decrease heat to low and stir in broth.
4 Add chicken, cover, and simmer until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 160 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through cooking.
5 Transfer chicken to large bowl; place in refrigerator to cool, about 20 minutes.
6 Remove 1/4 cup liquid from saucepan and set aside; discard remaining liquid.
7 If using fresh tomatillos and poblano chiles adjust oven racks to middle and highest positions and heat broiler (if using canned, skip to step 11 ).
8 Toss tomatillos and poblanos with remaining 2 teaspoons oil; arrange on rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, with poblanos skin-side up.
9 Broil until vegetables blacken and start to soften, 5 to 10 minutes, rotating pan halfway through cooking.
10 Cool 10 minutes, then remove skin from poblanos (leave tomatillo skins intact).
11 Transfer tomatillos and chiles to food processor.
12 Set oven temperature to 350 degrees.
13 Discard foil from baking sheet and set baking sheet aside for warming tortillas.
14 Add 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, remaining teaspoon garlic, and reserved cooking liquid to food processor; process until sauce is somewhat chunky, about eight 1-second pulses.
15 Taste sauce; season with salt and pepper and adjust tartness by stirring in remaining sugar, 1/2 teaspoon at a time.
16 Set sauce aside (you should have about 3 cups).
17 When chicken is cool, pull into shreds using hands or 2 forks, then chop into small bite-sized pieces.
18 Combine chicken with cilantro and 1 1/2 cups cheese; season with salt.
19 Smear bottom of 13- by 9-inch baking dish with 3/4 cup tomatillo sauce.
20 Place tortillas on 2 baking sheets; spray both sides of tortillas lightly with cooking spray.
21 Bake until tortillas are soft and pliable, 2 to 4 minutes.
22 Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.
23 Place warm tortillas on countertop and spread 1/3 cup filling down center of each tortilla.
24 Roll each tortilla tightly and place in baking dish, seam-side down.
25 Pour remaining tomatillo sauce over top of enchiladas; use back of spoon to spread sauce so that it coats top of each tortilla.
26 Sprinkle with remaining cheese and cover baking dish with foil.
27 Bake enchiladas on middle rack until heated through and cheese is melted, 15 to 20 minutes. 28 Uncover, sprinkle with scallions, and serve immediately, passing radishes and sour cream separately.



Manifestation II













Susana Cortez
"Manifestation II"
Mix media
9'x11'6"x7'5"


Monday, September 20, 2010

“The Surround”

First two monoprints




1)In the Studio:



First, I did two monoprints using multiple colors (water base ink). I wrote several quotes on them, but there was something not working for me. Then, I talked to Rebecca and she showed me how to do transfer prints which is another way to create monotypes but with more control, this allowed me to create the prints by writing. Essentially the words make the print. Right now I have 4 black transfer prints and I’m planning to make 6 or more and play with color. After finishing with the prints I’ll create a free standing sculpture, I’m not sure how it’s going to look yet. Everything seems to be just like panned. :)

Transfer prints - Close ups








Transfer prints











2) DREAM:
At least 90% of the time my dreams are related to my art practice. Recently, performance art has been grabbing my attention and I aim to create at least one performance this semester. I was thinking in performing inside a cage presenting myself as an “alien”. But in my most recent dream I was performing inside the cage wearing white clothes in front of Trabant. I can quite remember what I was doing inside the cage all I remember was being inside. For me this relates to the two pieces I’m creating right now. They are about finding ways to liberate my thoughts, findings ways to communicate to the viewer my concerns. They talk about how we as humans are afraid to communicate our thoughts and how we are essentially trap within ourselves. The visual element that has stuck with me was the white against the rusty cage. I see it as a dove trap in a cage. For me it also relates to a recent phrase I wrote -


“Freedom cannot be achieve due to the visible and invisible systems that shape our lives since the day we are born”



Sketch, before dream





















Wednesday, September 8, 2010

What is IT???

Marilyn Arsem - "Undertow"
Carla Trujillo- Dust Devil Assemblage

In my artistic practice I tend to address issues that concern me. I tend to think too much, but at the end I discard all my assumptions and theories. During this semester I want to be able to express my thoughts through the use of art, I want to find a way in which my words become visual representations that come together to create a piece that engages the viewers in multiple interactions in the same space. I want to create and experience, a memory or a simple reaction from the viewer. To accomplish this I am going to start by bringing all my thoughts together, by writing or printing them into a set of six large monoprints. Each monoprint will illustrate my feelings at the moment of the creation. Then, for each thought I will create a small sculptural piece and I will bring all the sculptural pieces together to create one solid piece. The final piece will be place in front of the monoprints.

The most resent artists that I have been looking at are; Carla Trujillo and Marilyn Arsem.

Carla Trujillo is a Mix media artist her work for me seems to be grotesque and beautiful at the same time, something that has always grabbed my attention. Sometimes I think of violence and destruction as something beautiful but painful and I think her piece combine those feelings and creates something beautiful for me. She illustrates the reality of life.

http://indiandollartworks.blogspot.com/


Marilyn Arsem is a performance artist, most of her performance pieces are not planned in advance rather they respond to the space. Performance art has grabbed my attention because half of the piece is the viewers’ reaction. I tend to look for the viewers’ reactions in all of my pieces this is why I want to create a performance piece this semester and see what it does for me.

http://marilynarsem.net/