Dia De los Muertos Reflection
1. How challenging was this project for you? Be specific.
The most challenging thing for me during this project was finding personal items of my subject. Because, I didn't personally know John Lennon I struggled finding information to represent his personality and daily lifestyle. This was easily the hardest information to find but I did eventually get it.
2. What did you enjoy most about this Cultural Connections project?
I enjoyed the freedom of being able to chose anyone that we knew, and it didn’t have to be on a personal level. This just made the whole process easier, and made the exhibition more interesting to look at because it was faces and names people in the public could recognize.
3. Did you receive critique and feedback from anyone (teacher, parent, classmate, etc)? If so, who? Was the feedback helpful? (This could be for any part of the project, illustrated journal, ofrenda, exhibition)
Yes, a majority of my critique came from my peers as usual. This is because I can get so many people to look at it easily, and they know what the project is.
4. What grade do you think you deserve? Why?
For this project I think I deserve an A because put all of my effort into making my ofrenda look well made, I researched John Lennon further in depth on him, and was always on task in class. Below you can see a photo of my ofrenda, and each element in it with it’s own unique voice in the piece. Next, I chose who I was going to be making mine on, then realized that I didn’t really know anything about John besides music. So I researched him and found all new key elements of his life to incorporate. Lastly, I was always in class working, and getting others ideas and thoughts on how to make my piece better or more interesting.
5. If you could change something about this project, what would it be?
I enjoyed the project, so maybe next time it’s a bigger final product. Somehow connect a few ofrendas to one big one or just one big altar with everyone's on it.
John Lennon Ofrenda Artist Statement
My ofrenda is honoring one of the greatest musicians ever, John Lennon. John was born in October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, United Kingdom. He grew up with his aunt Mimi, who eventually introduced him music. She got John into Elvis, and all the modern rockers, then taught him how to play instruments like banjo and piano. Johns biggest success came with The Beatles, starting the Beatles, and writing many of the songs for the legendary rock group. John kept on writing until he was murdered in New York on December 8th, 1980. I chose John among many other Beatles because he was one of the main members of The Beatles and is one of the most memorable for me.
My ofrenda has many elements that represented him and how he lived his life. First is the background of the words imagine and the peace symbol. Throughout all of his life he was trying to spread peace and stop the fighting, this was especially important because he grew up during wartime. Within my ofrenda is all of the jewelry, guitar strings, and mini guitar. These are all parts of his life, he often had jewelry and beads, next one of the first instruments he played and main instruments was guitar. Also his favorite drink, a cocktail, this is represented with the cut out of a cocktail. Lastly we have the glasses, this is the most iconic aspect of John. These glasses were with him from his younger life to when he died.
My ofrenda has many elements that represented him and how he lived his life. First is the background of the words imagine and the peace symbol. Throughout all of his life he was trying to spread peace and stop the fighting, this was especially important because he grew up during wartime. Within my ofrenda is all of the jewelry, guitar strings, and mini guitar. These are all parts of his life, he often had jewelry and beads, next one of the first instruments he played and main instruments was guitar. Also his favorite drink, a cocktail, this is represented with the cut out of a cocktail. Lastly we have the glasses, this is the most iconic aspect of John. These glasses were with him from his younger life to when he died.