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Celina Gonzalez-Cortez

Art 130

Professor Amber Ward

December 5, 2016

Theory Application

Introduction

Murals are paintings done on a bigger scale and they can

express social and political issues. I read two articles one called

How muralist Judy Bacas Art Spurs Social Change by Mark

Blankenship and Pedagogy of Activist Art by Marit C Dewhurst.

After reading the two articles something relevant is how murals and

community art bring groups of people together. They work on a

community art and express common or related social issues. They

also may focus on culture and identity. The theorist I decided to

focus on is Paulo Freire because his theory is on social justice.

Which is one of the main points addressed in both articles.

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Paulo Freires Theory

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Theory Application

In both articles, Freires theory, is used to educate individuals

through the creation of art. Freires theory, teaches individuals to

awaken and see their rights. The creators of the murals and activist art

are on their own capturing history as depicted through their eyes. In

the first article, How muralist Judy Bacas Art Spurs Social Change

by Mark Blankenshiphe author addresses how Judy Baca has

individuals come together to create murals that help them learn about

social issues and how it affects them.

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In the second

article,

Pedagogy of Activist Art by Marit C Dewhurst, students are making activist art to ask and
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further understand a topic. In both articles, someone else like a teacher or the government does

not control their what they think or how they should think.

Themes

In the first article, How muralist Judy Bacas Art

Spurs Social Change by Mark Blankenship, the themes

that appear are social justice, identity, self empowerment.

In the second article,Pedagogy of Activist Art by Marit C

Dewhurst, the main two themes are youth empowerment

and social justice, In both articles what is stated is similar

is that they both create a unity and knowledge through the

creation of activist art.

Research gaps
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In the article first article, How muralist Judy Bacas Art Spurs Social Change by Mark

Blankenship, the author does not address what theory Judy Baca uses. The author mentions that

she was a teacher, meaning that she has theories that she must identify with. There is not a lot of

detail when it comes to the actual construction of the murals. There are no specific details on

how the issues are chosen. In general, i could not find information on how murals have similar

aspects to Freires Theory.

Emerging questions

Some of my emerging questions are why there is no mural theory. Why there has been no

further research been done on the similarities between mural, community art, activist art and how

they all relate back to Freire's theory. Why are murals not considered a high art? Why was the
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Barrio arts cut at sacramento state university?

Conclusion

After researching the two articles and seeing how Freires theory is being applied i want

to take what i have learned and apply to the Crocker art Museum. I want to also apply it when i

become a teacher. I have been inspired ever since i was in high school by my former art teacher

Ms. Lua. She would always encourage us to apply for community art projects, galleries,

museums and so on. I further plan to take what i have learned from these two articles, what i am

currently learning in the Crocker Art Museum and apply it in Stockton. I want to create murals to
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bring the community together. One specific example i have in mind is a wall space on the back

side of the Haggin Museum. I plan to propose this idea one day in the near future when i move

back to stockton.
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Work by Ms.Luas students

Community piano

References

Blankenship, M. (2010, Feb 22). How muralist judy baca's art spurs social change.The Hispanic
Outlook in Higher Education, 20, 26-27. Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.csus.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.csus.edu/docview/219286007?accountid=10358
Dewhurst, M. C. (2009). A pedagogy of activist art: Exploring the educational significance of
creating art for social justice (Order No. 3385014). Available from ProQuest
Dissertations & Theses Global: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection.
(304891241). Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.csus.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.csus.edu/docview/304891241?accountid=10358