El Proyecto de Mi Frida
In this project, we examined the life and work of Frida Kahlo to further develop and apply our Spanish skills. To begin the project, we read a short book, in Spanish, about Frida's life. As we read, we interpreted the artwork Frida made at various points in her life. Then, we watched the 2002 movie, Frida. Eventually, each student picked a person that was their "Frida;" we wrote biographies and did a Frida-inspired painting of the person that we chose. I studied Madeleine Albright for my project. I based my painting on Frida's painting Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird. Below, you can see the biography I wrote, as well as a photograph of my painting.
Calavera Literaria Project
What was the project about (what is a Calavera Literaria)?
Last year in Spanish 1, we studied Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which is a holiday that is celebrated in Mexico. In Spanish 2 this year, we built upon our knowledge of Dia de los Muertos by writing and drawing calaveras literarias. Calaveras literarias have become a big part of Dia de los Muertos; a calavera literaria is a style of art that portrays someone as an esqueleto (skeleton). There is usually an accompanying poem written in a satirical manner. In our project, we looked at the artist who popularized the style, Jose Guadalupe Posada, and the calaveras literarias that he created. We attempted to emulate his style and design our own calaveras.
How did you approach the project and how did you feel that yours came out?
When I first learned about this project, I was excited about the writing but much less excited about the artwork. I do not consider myself an artist by any metric, and I knew that I didn’t have the drawing or painting skills to create a calavera literaria similar to Posada’s. I approached this project by focusing on who I wanted to satirize, and then writing a poem to that end. I think this is evident in my final product. I am happy with how my writing piece turned out, but I had given up hope on my art. I did not strive to make it beautiful, and that’s pretty obvious when you look at it. That’s because I really believed that I didn’t have the skills to create a good art piece, so I let myself get away with the bare minimum. It’s not terrible--it has color and I think you can tell what the skeleton is doing. But I definitely could’ve gone through a few more drafts.
Last year in Spanish 1, we studied Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which is a holiday that is celebrated in Mexico. In Spanish 2 this year, we built upon our knowledge of Dia de los Muertos by writing and drawing calaveras literarias. Calaveras literarias have become a big part of Dia de los Muertos; a calavera literaria is a style of art that portrays someone as an esqueleto (skeleton). There is usually an accompanying poem written in a satirical manner. In our project, we looked at the artist who popularized the style, Jose Guadalupe Posada, and the calaveras literarias that he created. We attempted to emulate his style and design our own calaveras.
How did you approach the project and how did you feel that yours came out?
When I first learned about this project, I was excited about the writing but much less excited about the artwork. I do not consider myself an artist by any metric, and I knew that I didn’t have the drawing or painting skills to create a calavera literaria similar to Posada’s. I approached this project by focusing on who I wanted to satirize, and then writing a poem to that end. I think this is evident in my final product. I am happy with how my writing piece turned out, but I had given up hope on my art. I did not strive to make it beautiful, and that’s pretty obvious when you look at it. That’s because I really believed that I didn’t have the skills to create a good art piece, so I let myself get away with the bare minimum. It’s not terrible--it has color and I think you can tell what the skeleton is doing. But I definitely could’ve gone through a few more drafts.