Yollocalli Arts Reach (NMMA) - Isai- Week 2

 

      

          This week was a longer week for me. This week has been more productive and really encouraged me to go out of my comfort zone more than ever. I have been transporting from 3 different locations this week and I have been exhausted from all of the errands I have been taking care of. But after my week I decided to reward myself with a new pair of soccer cleats for the weekly games that I started this week. 

    This summer has felt like I was missing something to do and it took a lot of discipline for me to attend a daily internship for a program that is helping me prepare for college. As I am writing this, I have recently just finished my college orientation. A new environment of teens just like me being all nervous to enter our big school. This internship and YAP have helped me out on improving my participation skills and it really payed off because I have never raised my hand for discussions this much, not even in high school. I got to leave my orientation an entire day early because I have already finished my part while the rest of my peers were still trying to figure things out. This was all thanks for my new set of habits that you guys helped me out with :)

And now…. Isai’s week 2 of Yollocalli >:))) ….

 July 10

If the dates throws you off its because Yollocalli traditionally starts the week on Mondays.

 After my “orientation week” in July 5th- 7th,I was set to start the formal setting of my intership.On the start of the week (July 10), I have finally met my boss who was out for the first few days of my internship. My boss, Vanessa Sanchez, is the Director of Education for Yollocalli Arts Reach. After our formal in-person introduction to each other she asked me if I had any interest in art. I used to draw all the time so to answer her question I said “yes” and proceeded to demonstrate some of  my past artwork of some drawings I made in my iPad throughout the years. 

    For my official first day with a supervisor I was sent to go outside and help out with a small mural that was ruined by the Chicago weather conditions. After that I was now participating in assisting the classes instead of shadowing with an educator. The pictures shows the mini mural we have. Even if I didnt do anything with the mural other than the little flower I made. I was sent to stores, warehouses and went inside the building for supplies. It looked great! Even when I didn't take any before pictures, believe when I say this team really helped fix our mural that stands outside the reach center. 

  

    

  

             

                    JULY 11

                                 

                    

Today I visited the National Museum of Mexican Art and had a blast. Vanessa, my boss, gave me a ride to the Museum and since it was my first time I have been in the museum she gave me a tour of the offices and a chance to meet with the team. After I finished some paperwork I was allowed to get a self guided tour and I took so many pictures. I liked the art composition of the desk, If you look closely you will see that the desk is standing with 3 legs and some books assisting with one of the legs. The artifact had no description and I didn’t think too much of it until I saw the books were Mexican and Hispanic History books. The ladies next to me interpreted the art piece by saying that the books are helping the desk stand which symbolizes Hispanic history helping the country (the desk chair) stand up. I didn’t take it that way because even if it was trying to portray that description, why were the books in different languages and cultures that had nothing to do with “helping the nation” succeed . I interpreted it as how we are underrepresented. Based on the research my program did for our “250th year project” I knew our history in helping the nation was really underrepresented. And these were not American Latino books. These were books about indigenous Hispanics and Cultures and how they started building a society and since we don’t acknowledge their history we just use it for scraps. Such as something to help a desk stand up. We use the book as a prop to look more “studious” or as something we use to hold the door open but never actually use it on a class environment for learning. It is art piece that spreads awareness, rather than using these books like they’re scraps like door stoppers or hypothetically, toilet paper, we should use them to learn about the nation before it was the USA. 

This is the art piece, the board says “Tu no Sabes” or “you don't know” in an native language . This symbolizes IGNORANCE 

July 12

   Today I actually was at Yollo Research Center. I designed an image for our social media page. On instagram, they have a portion called “highlights” and what that shows is past post about the user’s instagram stories. It’s something for the audience to see. I spend almost the whole day designing this and I think it turned out alright. What I did is I took inspiration of a YOLLO character and made him with the word  “summer” in the background. THIS ISNT MY ORIGINAL CHARACTER. But I made the entire thing myself:). Afterwards I just helped with office work and task, Wednesdays we leave early so we wrapped it up really quick. Personal completed goal of the day: in my summer soccer team, we had our first game. And we won with me scoring our second goal :)). (We won 2-1) 

JULY 13

        Today I was sent to take pictures of our upcoming mural in Little village Chicago. I was sent to meet all the team and learn about the program’s graffiti class. As I was taking pictures I noticed that all of these students are peers. Like my age, 17-18 year olds. Instead of being a formal intern I joined into their conversations and all of them had an interest in arts. I personally am focusing on sciences and public affairs but everyone wanted to manage their own art. I even had a shot to mess with some of the spray paint and made my own little doodle. It was a fun event and they are the first class to include me on their activity for the day. Watching other Chicago students was really fun, even if we aren't going to the same college I still feel a connection with them. 

 

This is an image I showed the educator when she asked if I had any spray paint experience. She liked the aesthetic I gave off and now I will be having the chance to draw my eye drawing in a mural soon:))
I thought this was worth mentioning since I will be having the chance to participate in a mural later this summer. This image was me from last December and the wall was a project I participated in.

 

  I did this star! That’s my part of the mural. It’s not much but it is something that will later be display professionally. This wall was intended to be practiced by the students, that’s why there’s so many random doodles. The official mural will be on the works soon and I’ll be sure to keep y’all updated!

After the mural I went to the little village YMCA , which was in front of the mural, and saw the soccer field with kids playing. They kicked their ball in my direction and after passing the ball back to them they invited me to play with them. This was my personal highlight of the week because it gives me gratitude to see young American Latinos doing something active during the summer and giving me a chance to share this moment with them rather than being at home like today’s generation kids. We couldn’t take a group picture because we ran out of time but I have their permission to include this on my blog. 

It was so much fun and wished I had someone in my internship to take pictures of me and the stuff I’m doing. 

July 14

 Today I was at the NMMA and I was given the job to sort all of these books in order. It took me like the entire day and it was by far the hardest day I had all summer. It was so exhausting but my boss bought me lunch so it was worth it ! 🦫

                                             

After a while I started procrastinating and started opening the books, idk why but I really liked this one. Looks scary 

   PRESENT: 

So after the news that I wont be able to have a storytime from the YAP program, I been on the search for something to do for my community. I am currently still deciding on what to do but I have been thinking of things like volunteering in my local public library, host and make a fundraiser, start a a feminine product drive and donate them to female support centers, do another volunteering event ,and etc. All of these are not confirmed and still in the brainstorming process.

I been recently been experimenting with Webex Meet and maybe I can start a virtual club with some peers. 

I have also been talking to my school on potentially starting a Mexican Music (musica de banda o mariachi) band in the school since the popularity of regional Mexican Music has been rising up. I can start a band and we can perform on quinceñeras and local events. This was an idea I came up with some classmates in my orientation and it’s maybe something I can start with a partner soon. Ive had opportunities to be in a Tamborazo band before so maybe I can have some high school friends who are attempting  to pursue a “corrido tumbado” music career help me out. 

This week I also hosted a quick YAP meeting and had few members attend. Hopefully next meeting we can get most of the members to catch up! Send me a text for any information on how to join! (Staff this also applies if you guys want to join our meet) 

That’s it for Isai, stay safe and I’ll see you next time. *outro* 

 Oh yea, wear your seatbelts !