Week 13

Cascarones by Carmen Lomas Garza
Gouache
1989
Collection of Gilberto Cárdenas and Deanna RodrÌguez, Austin, TX
http://www.en.utexas.edu/amlit/amlitprivate/texts/garza.htm

The image I have selected is another work by Chicana Narrative artist Carmen Lomas Garza. The image portrays a woman with five children seated around a table. The woman and four children are making confetti  eggs, one of the boys seems to be asleep.    

I selected this image because my students had so much fun with their first piece by Garza. I believe it is an appropriate image for my Stage One third graders - there's a little something for everyone...a family activity, both genders are represented, a family pet rests in a simple but detailed just enough setting.

Cascarones are confetti filled eggshells. I doubt that my students are familiar with them, but I do have a couple of Hispanic students in the group, so it is a possibility. I hope they will be challenged and observant enough to notice that this family / group is not simply dyeing eggs.

I think they will observe the time of day, the fact that this is a Mexican or Mexican-American family, the sleeping cat, the calendar and the painting of the church on the wall. I hope they will speculate why the one child is asleep, and observe that the rest of the group seems very focused on their task. I wonder if anyone will notice that this is a 'repeat' artist.