Karla Batres is a Warsaw Community High School senior in Don Swartzentruber’s Studio Art class, and consistently on the Honor Roll. She’s also a Mexican-American who explores her ethnicity in her art. This year in the Studio Art class, Batres said during an interview Wednesday morning, she decided to focus on the theme of what it’s like to be a Mexican-American. Her pieces include acrylic and lace on canvas, a playable game, cloth and tissue paper and a self-published book. At the start of the school year, each student in the class had to share what their theme was going to be for their art. “It was hard opening up at the beginning of the year,” Batres said. She said she broke down explaining it. Normally a shy and quiet person, she said she sometimes finds it hard to communicate. “I like to think a lot and find it hard to express myself,” Batres said. Her first piece is titled “Loteria”. Batres said it focuses on Mexican stereotypes. The mixed media painting uses images and words associated with Mexicans. When she began the piece in August, she started by asking people what came to their mind when they heard the word “Mexican”. She asked people of different ethnic backgrounds, and did some online research. Her next step was to begin sketching. Assembling her sketches, she decided to use them to create an art piece of a board game called Loteria. Loteria is similar to Bingo but uses pictures instead of numbers. She finished the piece in December. “Loteria” received a Gold Medal at the national level for painting in the Scholastic Arts & Writing competition. The piece will be exhibited in New York. Batres will attend the award ceremony at Carnegie Hall to receive her prize and see her piece on exhibit. Her second piece is titled “Loteria Game” and is a playable loteria game that includes a set of cards and game boards Batres designed. Seventeen separate pieces make up her third artwork titled “Papel Picado.” Papel Picado, meaning paper cut out, is a traditional Mexican folk art that commonly pictures images of Mexican designs. However, Batres used iconic American images for her work. “It represents a clash of cultures,” Batres said. The piece took longer to make as Batres used an Exacto knife to cut out the designs. She used tissue paper to bring out the color in the designs, and spray painted some of it. A more fragile piece, Batres used images of things like baseball, the Statue of Liberty and Superman. Her self-published book “Fan wed Manuel end Lupita” is her fourth piece. “The theme for this project was learning a new language,” Batres said. Her dad, an immigrant, doesn’t speak English well. Batres read a “Dick and Jane” book to him and had him write out what he heard. The book is a phonetic translation that represents the struggle and beauty of learning a new language. “All the ‘Dick and Jane’ characters are Latino,” Swartzentruber said. “The Coconut”, Batres’ fifth piece, is a self portrait. It focuses on the racial slurs specifically aimed at Latinos. “Coconut” is a racial slur Mexican-Americans call other Mexican-Americans who they think have abandoned their culture. Coconut refers to being brown on the outside, but white on the inside, Batres said. For her art piece, Batres used actual coconut husk on her hair and eyebrows to bring them out more. Batres said many non-Mexican-Americans told her they didn’t know a term like “Coconut” existed. Her art helped educate other ethnic groups. Friends also came up to her and thanked her for her art and what it meant to them as they, too, had been called racial slurs like “Coconut.” Another piece, “Welcome to Arizona”, is a painting addressing the current political and immigration issue in Arizona. In the painting, in front of a billboard saying “Welcome to Arizona” is a white policeman arresting a Latino man. “I wanted to express my feelings about it,” said Batres. “The Pueblo” is Batres’ piece that depicts a Mexican town after the townspeople immigrate out and forget about the town. “What was once a lively town is dirty and forgotten, similar to a ghost town,” Batres said. “I’ve seen it first hand when I went and visited Mexico. Research shows that is becoming more and more common.”After graduating, Batres plans to continue her art by attending The Art Academy of Cincinnati to study illustration and graphic design. Batres said she enjoys painting a lot, so she plans to continue to do that at least on the side. She also likes graphic design, so may pursue a career in that field or illustrating children’s books. Batres’ work can be viewed May 19 from 6 to 9 p.m. in the WCHS Performing Arts Center as part of the Fine Arts Festival. Admission is free.
