Cheyenne Díaz Blog

"On/Off Assignment" My day without technology was one of reflection. I spent my day indoors, and mostly alone for the duration of my screen purge. My paternal grandmother has been very sick recently. This assignment gave me a lot of time to reflect on my relationship with my grandmother and how her faith carries in me.  Despite being raised Catholic, and attending Catholic schools, my faith did not follow me into adulthood. The aesthetics of Catholic art, however, have followed me, in particular how the image of La Virgen  has been revered in Latinx and Hispanic households. Not speaking the same language as my grandmother, and living outside of the city growing up has caused our relationship to be very surface level. My most vivid memories of visiting my grandparents include playing with my sisters and cousins in their guest bedroom, where my grandmother had an altar erected honoring those who came before us, complete with dishes of holy water and anointed oils, images of the...

Hello! My name is Cheyenne Díaz. I am a first-year MA Art & Art Education Initial Certification student  here at Teacher's College. I graduated this past May from the City College of New York with my BA in Art Education.  I have previously interned at the National Gallery of Art as a Video Production Intern through the Smithsonian's Latino Museum Studies Program, and I have also interned at The Brooklyn Museum as a School Programs Education Intern. I have worked for 3 summers overseeing both high school and college students at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies Summer Immersion Program. I am interested in art education in community and non-traditional settings, as well as public programming and education in museums. My identity as a second-generation Puerto Rican-American is central to all that I do. My artistic inspirations include Chicana artist Amalia Mesa-Bains and Jim Henson.  My media of choice include ceramics, printmaking, oil painting, and...