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Self Help Graphics and Art

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Self Help Graphics and Art (SHG) was founded informally in 1970 by Sister Karen Boccalero, a Franciscan nun who began making prints in a garage alongside Chicano artists Carlos Bueno, Antonio Ibáñez, Frank Hernández in East Los Angeles. In 1973, SHG moved to Brooklyn Avenue (now Cesar Chavez Avenue) with a grant from the Order of the Sisters of Saint Francis, expanding its space and community access.

Self Help Graphics came out of the Chicano arts movement of the 1970s, which saw an emergence of Chicano artists embracing pre-colonial cultural roots as a means of resistance against erasure, and sought to empower young Chicanos and Latinos to embrace heritage. Since then, SHG has remained a vibrant and vital hub for the Chicano arts scene in East Los Angeles. Over its forty-year history, SHG has produced over forty curated ateliers (print editions) with the help of an in-house master printer. Printmaking is an accessible art form that has continued to serve an important role in political organizing and movements and the works produced at SHG addressing timely political issues are a powerful part of its legacy as an arts organization. 

Since the 1980s, Self Help has focused on developing artists within the community and helping them gain exposure in the larger art world. It has been instrumental in the acquisition of Latino and Chicano art by major museums and in increasing exhibitions dedicated to such works. Artists associated with Self Help include members of Los Four, Gronk, Yreina Cervántez, Leo Limón, Linda Vallejo, Michael Amescua, Yolanda M. López, Roberto Delgado, and Alonzo Davis.

The organization has maintained its grassroots commitment to community, extending its activities beyond supporting artists to encompass topics around health and wellness, environmental justice and youth empowerment. From August 1975 to 1985, Self Help conducted a mobile art studio program called the Barrio Mobile Art Studio to bring printmaking, filmmaking, sculpture, etc., to East Los Angeles elementary schools. Self Help has also held an annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration since 1972, featuring artist-led workshops and becoming an integral event in East L.A.


Sources:
Decemvirale, J.V. “Self Help Graphics and Art.” Khan Academy, Accessed June 6th 2025. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/post-minimalism/painting/a/self-help-graphics-and-art. 
Gunckel, Colin, ed. Self Help Graphics & Art: Art in the Heart of East Los Angeles. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press, 2014.
Self Help Graphics & Art. “Our Story.” Self Help Graphics & Art, Accessed June 5th 2025. https://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/history. 

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