The artist Pacita Abad was born in Basco, Batanes, a small island located near the most northern part of the Philippines. Her parent’s involvement in politics influenced her choice in her college education as well as her early art works. Prior to her career as a painter she received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of the Philippines. She continued on to law school and became more deeply involved in social and political activism for her people and against President Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos. “Political unrest and demonstrations against the Marcos regime resulting in threats to her family, led Pacita's parents to decide to send her overseas to the US and Spain to continue her law studies.”
While in The United Sates she resided in San Francisco, California. There she decided rather than continuing on to Spain she would extend her stay. She enrolled at the University of San Francisco for her masters in Asian History. However, becoming rapidly involved in the local art community she started painting and instead received her Masters Degree in Fine Arts. Her works were heavily rooted in politics and humanitarianism. In 1975 she left California and obtained further painting instruction at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. and in 1977 the Arts Students League in New York City.
After finishing her formal training Abad continued to travel abroad. “Immersing herself in each new culture, all of the countries she visited, including Guatemala, Mexico, India, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Mali, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, and Indonesia, influenced her work in some way, from cultural artistic styles and materials to techniques.” Her use of Trapunto, a technique she developed, similar to tha...
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...ay, Trupunto Murals by Pacita Abad (2001):
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Ellipse Arts Center. 1991. Eight paths to a journey: cultural identity and the immigration experience : Pacita Abad, Kristine Yuki Aono, M.E. Fuentes, with Dr. Mia Bluementritt, Christiane Graham, Mansoora Hassan, Maria Karametou, John Lee, Rosella Matamoros. Arlington, Va: Ellipse Arts Center.
Hallmark, Kara Kelley. Encyclopedia of Asian American Artists .Artists of the American Mosaic. 1, Lea Kelley Lowrance. Greenwood: ABC-CLIO, 2007.
Kim, Elaine H., Margo Machida, and Sharon Mizota. 2003. Fresh talk, daring gazes: conversations on Asian American art. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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painting in Chicago and Mexico, before she realized she had no talent for it. Moving to
The idea that art can be a service to people- most importantly a service to poor and disenfranchised people is one that may be disputed by some. However, Elizabeth Catlett and other artists at the taller de Graffica Popular have proved that art could be made to service the poor. Catlett in particular is someone who has always used her art to advocate for the poor and fight injustices. While her activism and political views were very impactful, they were also very controversial. Catlett`s art and activism influenced African American and Latin American art by changing the narratives of Black and Brown working class women. In their books titled Gumbo Ya Ya, The Art of Elizabeth Catlett, African American Art: The Long Struggle, and Elizabeth Catlett: Works on Paper authors Leslie King-Hammond, Samella S. Lewis, Crystal Britton, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jeanne Zeidler speak of the work of Catlett. In a paper titled -----, ---- also speaks of the work of Elizabeth Catlett and her legacy as an activist.
After Rosa was expelled the second time her father decided to train her to become an artist. She was a very good student and mostly p ainted animals and landscapes. She often sold her works to older art students. She was know as a realist painter (Rosa Bonheur Facts).
Sofonisba Anguissola was born in 1532 in Cremona, Italy as the eldest of seven artistic children. She was the daughter of minor noblemen Amilcare Anguissola and during the time of her birth, women were only trained in needlework, religion, courtesy and refined living, but Sofonisba was taught painting and how to play piano as well. She was the first female painter famously known and was hired by King Philip II of Spain for fourteen years, which allowed her to get adequate resources needed for her paintings. (Wikipedia, 2015) Throughout these years, Sofonisba got married to Sicilian nobleman, Fabrizio di Monarda. In
Frida Kahlo is known for the most influential Latin American female artist. She is also known as a rebellious feminist. Kahlo was inspired to paint after her near-death bus incident when she was 17. After this horrendous incident that scarred her for life, she went under 35 different operations. These operations caused her extreme pain and she was no longer able to have kids. Kahlo’s art includes self portraits of her emotions, pain, and representations of her life. Frida Kahlo was an original individual, not only in her artwork but also in her
Dorothea Lange attended The New York School for Teachers from 1914 to 1917. During these years she decided to become a photographer. The photographer Arnold Genthe was her main inspiration at that time. After that she than attended and stud...
Barbra Kruger is a revolutionary, and feminist artist that is shaking modern society. Kruger was born in 1945. Currently, Kruger is teaching at the University of California at Los Angeles. She resides in Los Angels, however, she travels between both New York City and Los Angels often (CITE). Her education is not what many people assume world class artist would have come from (CITE). She did not take a traditional path and never thought she’d actually become an artist; maybe a fashion editor, but never recognized for her work (CITE YT). According to Art History, Kruger took a year of classes at the Syracuse University in 1964, where she evolved an interest in graphic design and art. The following year, she enrolled in Parson School of Design. There she studied with many
Mary Cassatt, an American printmaker, and painter was born in 1844 in Pennsylvania. Cassatt’s family perceived traveling as an essential part of the learning process thus she had the advantage of visiting various capitals such as Paris, London, and Berlin. Cassatt studied to become a professional artist and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She later went to study in France under Thomas, Couture, Jean-Leon Gerome, and others. She spent a significant part of her adult life in France. When in France, she initially befriended Edgar Degas, a famous French artist, and later her works were exhibited among other impressionists. Afterward, Cassatt admired artists that had the ability to independently unveil their artwork and did not
Salvador Dali was a modern master of art. He unleashed a tidal wave of surrealistic inspiration, affecting not only fellow painters, but also designers of jewelry, fashion, architecture, Walt Disney, directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, performers like Lady Gaga, and Madison Street advertisers. Filled with antics of the absurd, Dali fashioned a world for himself, a world which we are cordially invited to experience his eccentricity, his passions, and his eternal questioning nature. Dali’s surreal paintings transport us to fantastic realms of dream, food, sex, and religion. Born on May 11, 1904, Dali was encouraged by his mother to explore, to taste, to smell, to experience life with all of its sensuality. As a boy, Dali often visited the Spanish coastal town of Cadaqués with his family. It was here that he found inspiration from the landscape, the sea, the rock formations, the bustling harbor, with ships transporting barrels of olives and troves of exotic spices. Dali was impressed by the Catholic churches, and their altars with the portrayal of Christ and of the angels and saints gracefully flying overhead, yet frozen in time and marble. It was in Cadaqués that Dali declared “I have been made in these rocks. Here have I shaped my personality. I cannot separate myself from this sky, this sea and these rocks.” It was in
Williams, Bruce. "The Reflection of a Blind Gaze: Maria Luisa Bemberg, Filmmaker." A Woman's Gaze: Latin American Women Artists. Ed. Marjorie Agosin. New York; White Pine Press, 1998. 171-90.
“They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my reality,” said Frida Kahlo describing her art work (Frida Kahlo n.d.). Kahlo was a Mexican artist from the mid-20th century. She was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico, and the daughter of German and Mexican descendants (Lucie-Smith 1999). During her lifetime Kahlo embarked on many hardships caused by illness, heartache, and love. She became known for her haunting self portraits, radical politics, and that infamous unibrow (Stephen 2008).
The first art that interested me was the art of Indonesia which in this exhibit depicted the culture, history and art of Indonesian people. For instance, Bali a small island in the Indonesia valued most of its art based on the rich resources they occupied such as most art was composed of gold, diamond and sapphires which people of Bali believed that it will resemble their higher standards in the society. Art of Bali amazed me the most when it came to their “King’s crown” and “Queen’s crown” which was completely “fashioned in pure gold with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires” (Bali). The king’s crown was much simpler compare to queen’s crown which contained many varied of gold decorative that looked like gold flowers, and all of its designs such as rubies or sapphires were perfectly horizontally lined to each other that sort of depicted as a shiny necklace. The Bali’s art that I observed was very interesting know about the society they lived in those centuries with representation of their upscale society (Bali).
Her family constantly moving around caused difficulty in meeting new people and excelling of school. In 1919, she had joined Columbia University, and was in the Medical field. Her parents were brought back together in California, so she had dropped out of
...des us with a glimpse into the ancient culture using beautiful and detailed designs. The art form has been sustained in fired clay for thousands of years indiscriminately telling its story to the world and to history.
Her activism in the community was not only limited to the works that she made, which are provocative and beautiful, but as a recruiter to the feminist art cause. In 1970, when she began teaching at the Fresno State College, she began a feminist art program where she gathered young women to the cause. In an art journal published in 1971, Judith Dancoff interviews Chicago about the selection process of women artists for the program. Chicago apparently asked the girls the question “who wants to be an artist?” Although the question seems simple enough, to Chicago it had much more implications when the question was posed to girls as it really begged the question if they “[…] were prepared and strong enough to relinquish make-up, relinquish being