Tuesday, December 16, 2008

MOLINA FOURTH ANNUAL HOLIDAY ARTIST SHOWCASE

“Peace on Earth” Exhibit by Ofelia Esparza and Tribute to Self Help Graphics and Art

EAST LOS ANGELES (December 12, 2008) – This Holiday Season, Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina showcases two East L.A. icons at her Fourth Annual Holiday Artist Showcase. As part of her commitment to the arts, Molina promotes local artists at the annual event, and this year features the work of East L.A. artist Ofelia Esparza. In addition, the Showcase pays tribute to Self Help Graphics and Art (SHGA) with a special auction from their collection benefiting the renowned Chicano art organization.

WHAT: Supervisor Gloria Molina’s Fourth Annual Holiday Artist Showcase Benefiting
Self Help Graphics and Art – Features East L.A. artist Ofelia Esparza

WHEN: Tuesday, Dec 16, 5pm to 7pm

WHERE: East Los Angeles Civic Center Library, 4801 E. Third Street, L.A. 90022

WHO: Molina, Artist Ofelia Esparza, Self Help Graphics Board of Directors and artists

“I am proud that our featured artist Ofelia Esparza is a product of our community, and it is especially pleasing that like many, many talented Chicano artists, she was a student of Self Help Graphics, said Molina. “The Holidays are a time of giving and preserving traditions, a time of reflection and renewed hope, and when we remember the goodwill of others. This Holiday, my Artist Reception pays tribute to Self Help Graphics for nurturing and developing local artists during the past 35 years, and for making Chicano art known all over the world.”
Ofelia Esparza, whose art exhibit includes "Peace on Earth", is notably known for her work as an “Altarista”—which began at SHGA in 1980, where she continues to serve as a resident artist. Ofelia’s alters or “ofrendas” are works from a three-generation family tradition, which she proudly preserves. Her art is comprised of several mediums, including acrylics, printmaking, and water colors which have been featured in museums and galleries locally and internationally. Ofelia also teaches fine art and folk art at local schools, colleges, and community venues.
Contributions to help Self Help Graphics remain in East L.A., can be sent to
3802 Cesar E. Chavez Ave, L.A. CA 90063, or through PayPal at the http://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

LAPS 20th National Exhibtion

The 20th National is a big event! Since 1973, LAPS has organized national biennial exhibitions that showcase the current state of the art of printmaking to educate and interest a new audience for the printed image. Prints represent a media that is always changing and the National is an overview of the latest work from both the celebrated professional presses of Los Angeles and artists working across the continent. It is one of the largest, longest running print biennials in the nation. This National will have no size restriction for submitted work and challenging, experimental work is encouraged. LAPS will mark 35 years in Los Angeles with a celebration of our past, looking forward to our future.

February 1st, 2009 Deadline for submission of CDs, entry fee and jury notification card: PROSPECTUS for the 20th National Exhibition.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

OPEN CALL- Request for Qualifications - City of Glendale

The City of Glendale announces a public art opportunity for a qualified artist or artist team to design, fabricate and install artwork for the new Courthouse, which will open in downtown Glendale in 2010. The City Court and the Glendale Arts Commission support this public art project cooperatively.

Request for Qualifications - West Branch Library

The City of Glendale announces a public art opportunity for a qualified artist or artist team to design, fabricate and install artwork for the new West Branch Library. The Glendale Arts Commission and the Library and Arts Department support this public art project cooperatively.

For details on both requests see
http://www.glendaleaz.com/arts/ArtistOpportunities.cfm

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Latino Art Leaders Fellowships at Claremont Graduate University

The M.A in Arts Management at Claremont
Graduate University in Los Angeles has sizable fellowship
opportunities for outstanding Latino applicants for the spring and fall
semesters of 2009. The Arts Management degree prepares you for a career
in the non-profit arts by combining theory with real world
practical experience.

For more information Please visit: www.cgu.edu/am

Below is the link with detailed information about the
fellowship:

http://www.cgu.edu/pages/5881.asp

Friday, October 10, 2008

SHG teams up with Farmlab

Just Announced!! Collaboration between Self-Help Graphics, Casa Del Tunel, and Chora....

Political prints project -- East Los Angeles, downtown L.A., and Tijuana, Mexico...

Chora Prints 2008
New Political Posters From TJ2LA
Nuevos Posters Politicos de TJ a LA

Receptions:
Saturday, October 18, 2008, 6-9pm @ Casa Del Túnel (CDT)
Saturday, October 24, 2008 7-10pm @ Under Spring

On the occasion of the run-up to the November 4, 2008 U.S. Presidential election, Chora, Self-Help Graphics (SHG), and Casa Del Tunel:Art Center (CDT) are teaming up with two-dozen artists to produce posters about what the consider to be the key North American political issues of the day. Each of the three studios will select eight artists to create the works.

Printing will take place at the venerable Self-Help Graphics in East Los Angeles, at Casa Del Tunel, a new arts and culture center in Tijuana, Mexico. The concept for the project, as well as the support, comes from Chora, an initiative of the Annenberg Foundation.

Posters for this non-partisan project will be exhibited in the weeks prior to the election at least at two locations: Underspring and Casa Del Tunel:Art Center.
Underspring is a mutable urban landscape by Lauren Bon, located beneath Los Angeles’ North Spring Street Bridge. Regularly transformed, of late the spot has served as workshop, public square, ceremonial ground, rehearsal space and stage, dining room, gallery, office, dog park, musical instrument, rave site and the setting for a hoe down. With each new iteration, not only the function of the space has changed, but, as much as the bridge’s arches will allow, also its form.

Casa Del Tunel: Art Center is located in the Colonia Federal neighborhood, just meters from the Mexico-U.S. border, in a building that once served as the starting point for a cross-frontier smuggling route.

Self-Help Graphics is a nationally recognized center for Latino arts that develops and nurtures artists in printmaking. SHG seeks to advance Latino art broadly through programming, exhibitions and outreach to diverse audiences in East Los Angeles and beyond. SHG seeks to identify and engage young and emerging artists from the community in all aspects of its activities.

Chora aims to support the intangibles that precede creativity.

Artistas Participantes
Participating Artists

2cent
John Carr
Ofelia Esparaza
Ruben Esparza
Brandy Flower
Amitis Motevalli
Miguel Angel Reyes
Jose Ramirez
*
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Mely Barragan
Alvaro Blancarte
Luis Garzon
Alfredo Gutierrez
Noni Olabisi
Roberto Rosique
Daniel Ruanova
*
Sandow Birk
Lauren Bon
Mark Bradford
George Herms
Hannah Krut-Powell
Qingyun Ma
Rich Neilson
Felicity Powell

Casa Del Tunel: Art Center
Chapo Marquez 133, in Colonia Federal, Tijuana, B.C., Mexico, CP 22310
http://www.cofac101.org/

Self-Help Graphics
3802 Cesar E. Chavez Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90063
http://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/

Under Spring
c/o Farmlab, 1745 N. Spring Street #4, Los Angeles, CA 90012
www.farmlab.org

Chora
c/o Farmlab, 1745 N. Spring Street #4, Los Angeles, CA 90012
www.farmlab.org

Sunday, September 14, 2008

2008 Self Help Graphics & Art Dia de los Muertos Open Call

A Call To Witness: All Is Not Forgotten.
Dia de los muertos exhibit, SHG Brooklyn Gallery
November 2, 2008 - November 29, 2008
Opens November 2nd at 3:00 p.m.

Curators:
Reina Prado, Theresa Hernandez and William Borges.

In celebration of the thirty-five year tradition of the Day of the Dead at Self-Help Graphics, artists will showcase original work that addresses the theme of "A Call To Witness." The exhibition theme intends to proactively engage artists and participants to witness and share in a collective process of honoring the legacy of Self-Help Graphics.

This year's altars and installations will feature families, collectives, and artist collaborations by the Esparza Family, Flores-Norte Family, Rodriguez Family, Beltran Family, Mujeres de Maíz, and Alma Lopez & Rigo Maldonado. The exhibition will be among the several programs that bear witness to Self-Help Graphics' contribution to the cultural scene in Los Angeles.

A Call To Witness: All Is Not Forgotten opens to the public on Sunday, November 2 at 3 pm and runs through November 29, close of day. A preview of the exhibition will be held on Saturday, November 1 during the creation of the Community Altar, lead by Ofelia Esparza.

OPEN CALL for Annual Dia de los muertos exhibition
*Brooklyn Avenue Gallery - A Call To Witness: All is Not Forgotten. 2D art
Click HERE for Guidelines for Submission & Consignment Agreement Form

OPEN CALL for Ode to Galleria Otra Vez (in conjunction with the Dia de los Muertos Exhibit) - Retrospective installation that gives homage to the gallery, the artists, & the culture of SHG

Curators: Rosanna Esparza Ahrens & Denise Esparza-Carrillo

With all the attention we have received in the last two months regarding the future of Self Help graphics, we have decided to showcase a retrospective installation that gives homage to the gallery, the artists, & the culture of SHG. Through this installation, we look to continue the conversation of the importance and impact SHG has had on the global art community. For those that have been on this journey for the last 35 years, it will summon up the essence of the vibrant history & heritage of this Chicano art community. It will also serve as a ground swell of inspiration for newcomers to SHG.

Our goal is to fertilize the long established roots we have set into place. As of late, SHG is bubbling with ardent creativity and activism by all who want to participate in continuing the beautiful legacy we have inherited in this time & and in this place. We are asking for your help in acquiring invitation/announcement fliers from past shows held at Galleria Otra Vez. The installation piece will be installed in the gallery stairwell.

Click HERE for MORE Installation information

Sunday, August 10, 2008

OPEN CALL SHOW: POSTCARDS FROM THE ART EDGE

Okay this is a fundraiser for i-5 Gallery (a program of the Brewery Art Association, a non-profit California art charity). We are not going to make a million dollars here, but we are going to hopefully be better able to pay the electric bill at the gallery and stuff like that.

So here is the deal. Make an artwork that can be mailed in to the gallery. Send us your name, the title and the medium and we will put it on the wall. We will sell each artwork for $100 ... and you the artist will get $50 from that.

No limits on anything, just that it has to be mailed by the US POSTAL SERVICE and CANNOT be something that:
Requires assembly
Has unreasonable/overly-complicated presentation requirements
Has illegal substances on or in it.

ALSO ... If it is gross or sociopathic or we just do not like it, we (that would be Mat Gleason, president of the Brewery Art Association and Nancy Ramirez, director of the i-5 gallery) reserve the right to NOT exhibit it, but THIS IS AN EXERCISE IN DEMOCRACY not elitism or curation, so we welcome all art submissions arriving by mail. Artworks are not insured - we take professional precautions, but understand that there is no liability for damaged, lost or stolen artworks. Artwork returns require a Self-Addressed-Stamped-Envelope.

ART MUST BE POSTMARKED BY SATURDAY, AUGUST 23.

Exhibit runs August 29 thru October 18 at the i-5 Gallery in the Brewery Arts Compound

EXHIBIT OPENING RECEPTION FOR THE ARTISTS: AUGUST 30, 8 - 11 PM

Mail your art to:

Nancy Ramirez/Mat Gleason
i-5 Gallery
2100 N. Main St #A-9
Lincoln Heights, CA 90031

Press releases and advertising with participating artists names will be sent out to the local fine art media, so this is your chance to get recognition and exposure for your art. Be creative and, please, follow United States Postal guidelines.

Thank You.
E-mail, breweryartwalk@yahoo.com

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

August 3rd - FREE Art workshops!


FREE to the community!

Sunday, August 3rd at 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Self Help graphics & Art presents free children workshops in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

555 W. Temple Street
Los Angeles, California 90012

Learn about Sister Karen and how she founded Self Help Graphics & Art. We will be making Sister Karen mascaras and tissue paper Flowers!

Please Join us in showing how important art, tradition and community are to Los Angeles!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Left, Right and Center - Open Call













Councilmember Jose Huizar -Townhall Meeting

Tuesday, July 29, 2008
6:00 PM - 7:45 PM

Puente Learning Center
501 S. Boyle Ave.

For more information please contact:
District 14 Boyle Heights Field Office at 323.526.3059

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Let's get this movement started!

We have drafted a letter template that you can send to the LA Archdiocese. Sign it, add to it, modify or write your own. Let the LA Archdiocese and Roger Mahony know how you feel about what they have done to Self Help Graphics and the impact it will have in the community they are a part of as well.

Send (either in email or snail mail) to the LA Archdiocese at:

Archdiocese of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202
213 637 7000
info@la-archdiocese.org


Dear Cardinal Mahony,

I am writing to express my outrage that the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese secretly sold the mosaic building that is home to Self Help Graphics & Art. After its founding by Catholic nun Sister Karen Boccalero more than 35 years ago, non-profit organization Self Help Graphics & Arts was notified that the L.A. Catholic Archdiocese sold the building to a private real estate and investment company. We had no knowledge of the sale or pending sale. Why did the Archdiocese keep this sale secret? Why not give us the benefit of the doubt that we could rally the community and our leaders that so value our service to help us purchase the building? Given our years of service to the community and carrying on the legacy of our beloved founder Sister Karen, we deserve an explanation.

As long as the organization continued to fulfill the mission of advancing Chicano and Latino art and developing local and emerging artists, the Sisters of St. Francis, Mount Alverno agreed to allow Self Help Graphics & Art to use the building. With record-breaking print fairs, community festivals such as its iconic Día de los Muertos celebration which draws thousands of attendees and artists – both emerging and veteran – flocking to the organization as a place to cultivate their art, Self Help has been undergoing a renaissance. Last Fall Self Help board members were told that the building was not on the list of sites to be sold as part of the Archdiocese’s attempt to raise funds to pay the settlement to individuals who successfully sued the church for sexual abuse. When the Sisters signed the deed over to the Archdiocese for sale this year, you had an obligation, if not legal, at least a moral obligation, to notify us.

A spokesperson for the Sisters of St. Francis alleges that Self Help Graphics & Art failed to secure a grant to purchase the building, leading the sisters to transfer title to the archdiocese. They also allege that the organization was struggling financially. Who looks more desperate for money than the Archdiocese with a secret sale? Sadly, the tradition of deception to the community continues.

Despite a sagging economy and fight for non-profit resources the organization has thrived. Sales for prints from some of the nation’s leading Latino artists and up-and-coming artists have been booming.

Again, we ask for an answer. You created this mess. What are you going to do to help us solve this?

Friday, July 11, 2008

Self Help Graphics forced into crisis by the LA Archdiocese

LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY DEMANDS ANSWERS

Community is Outraged that Catholic Archdiocese Secretly Sells Self Help Graphics & Arts Historic Building

Over the last 24 hours elected officials, community leaders, artists and residents throughout Los Angeles expressed their outrage that the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese secretly sold the mosaic building that is home to Self Help Graphics & Art. After its founding by Catholic nun Sister Karen Boccalero more than 35 years ago, non-profit organization Self Help Graphics & Arts was notified that the Catholic Archdiocese sold the building to a private real estate and investment company. The organization had no knowledge of the sale or pending sale. Community leaders including Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina made it abundantly clear that the Archdiocese must explain its actions.

“We need answers,” Supervisor Molina said. “The Archdiocese’s blatant disrespect for the community is unacceptable. I commit to working with Self Help Graphics & Art to mobilize my elected official colleagues and other community leaders to demand that the archdiocese tell us why they mishandled this situation – and how they plan to correct it.”

As long as the organization continued to fulfill the mission of advancing Chicano and Latino art and developing local and emerging artists, the Sisters of St. Francis, Mount Alverno agreed to allow Self Help Graphics & Art to use the building. With record-breaking print fairs, community festivals such as its iconic Día de los Muertos celebration which draws thousands of attendees and artists – both emerging and veteran – flocking to the organization as a place to cultivate their art, Self Help has been undergoing a renaissance. Last Fall Self Help board members were told that the building was not on the list of sites to be sold as part of the Archdiocese’s attempt to raise funds to pay the settlement to individuals who successfully sued the church for sexual abuse.

A spokesperson for the Sisters of St. Francis alleges that Self Help Graphics & Art failed to secure a grant to purchase the building, leading the sisters to transfer title to the archdiocese. They also allege that the organization was struggling financially.

“It is preposterous to believe that one attempt at a grant a year ago should signal the Sisters and Archdiocese to move forward with a sale with no notice whatsoever,” said Self Help board of directors president Armando Durón. “Common human decency would have been to give us a deadline for purchase.”

After closing its doors for three months in 2005, Self Help has experienced resurgence with the help of an untold number of volunteers and the support of the community at large. With no federal or state subsidies or major private grants, the organization has thrived in its array of programs and services to the community. Sales for prints from some of the nation’s leading Latino artists and up-and-coming artists have been booming. The organization is considered by scholars and artists as one of the birthplaces of Chicano art.

“For nearly 40 years, Self-Help Graphics has been one of the major community-based arts centers serving Los Angeles. It has earned international recognition for its contributions to the graphic arts and for being a model of community-based art making and art-based community making. In the last three years, Self Help has reinvented itself as a self-sustaining organization, and it has shown the continued vitality and relevance of its mission by reaching new generations of artists and community members through innovative programs and cutting edge artistic production," said Chon Noriega, professor and director of the Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA.
The terms of the sale from the new owner allow Self Help to remain in the building rent free until December 31, 2008.

Stephen Saiz, Self Help board vice president said the organization will be working with the community, elected officials, foundations, fellow arts institutions and other community leaders to determine the future for the organization.

“We have had a relationship with the Church for almost 40 years and expected them to value that relationship and more importantly, the service we provide to the community” Saiz said. “We are not going to allow their needs for funds to pay off their debts stop us from that service.”

Self Help Graphics & Art is a nationally recognized center for Chicano and Latino arts that develops and nurtures artists and printmaking. Self Help Graphics & Art seeks to advance Chicano and Latino art broadly through programming, exhibitions and outreach to diverse audiences in East Los Angeles and beyond. Self Help Graphics & Art seeks to identify young and emerging artists from the community in all aspects of its activities.