An artistic collage depicting a young child's face with wide eyes, edited in black and white with a yellow overlay. The child's head is surrounded by yellow corn cobs arranged like a headdress, against a red patterned background. The child appears to be holding a bandana or cloth in front of their chest.

Artwork of a child with a yellow face, black and white skin, wearing a headpiece made of corn cobs, and holding a bandana over their shoulders against a red patterned background.

La Pistola, Hija Del Maiz, 2022 Serigraph, 22” x 30”, Edition of 60. Printed at Self Help Graphics & Art

Be Part of Our Movement

Our Roots are Deep, Now We Seed for The Future.

BE PART OF THIS LEGACY

White star-shaped spark on a black background

A Home For Our Artists

Colorful street scene with pink hills, a city skyline, a blue sky, and large plants. Two people are walking while holding hands in the foreground. The scene has artistic, sketch-like details.

Art Piece: Heart Measured in Inches by Enrique Castrejon

Richard B. Valdez, What Now My Love?, 2009 Serigraph, 20” x 26”, Edition of 74. Printed at Self Help Graphics & Art

Enrique Castrejon, Heart Measured in Inches, 2013 Serigraph, 35.5” x 27”, Edition of 55. Printed at Self Help Graphics & Art

Our community has forged forward with artistic innovation and communal care, producing world-class art in under resourced conditions.

This renovation ensures the infrastructure finally matches the caliber of what has always been created here. A space by artists, for artists. Built to last.

Red abstract star-shaped design on a white background.

For any press inquiries, please email:
press@selfhelpgraphics.com

A Haiku for Self Help Graphics & Art

By Rubén Funkáhuatl Guevara

Sits on Tongva land
Inspiring generations
The magic of art

Sits on Tongva land
Centuries of art magic
Transforming the world

A white star-shaped symbol on a black background.

Stylized orange star shape on a white background

Colorful abstract artwork featuring three women, with one elderly woman holding a flower, surrounded by nature elements like trees and leaves, with vibrant colors and expressive faces.

Favianna Rodriguez, Abuelita de mi Vida, 2004, Serigraph. Printed at Self Help Graphics & Art

A drawing of a black cat with green eyes sitting with its tail curled around its body.

SHG was the first place that invited me to create a print with a master printer, and this opened many doors for me and gave me the confidence to pursue my art. It only takes a few interventions in a young artist’s life to set them up for success, and SHG was that for me.

- Favianna Rodriguez
Artist and Executive Director,
CultureStr/ke

Self Help Graphics & Art Made History. Help Us Make More.

An orange star-shaped design on a black background.

Images documenting the history of Self Help Graphics & Art through the years

SHG was born in 1970 in a garage in East LA, during the height of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. A group of young Chicana/o artists, Carlos Bueno, Frank Hernandez, Antonio Ibañez, and Sister Karen Boccalero, a Franciscan nun and printmaker, set out to create what did not exist: a place where Latinx artists could develop their craft without being turned away by institutions that were never built for them.

Self Help Graphics has held four homes since its inception. In 2015, after four years of negotiations, SHG established a permanent home through the purchase of the Ocean Queen building at 1300 E. 1st Street. A 116-year-old former fish packing plant in the heart of Boyle Heights, surrounded by three public housing communities and directly across from a high school and an elementary school.

The artivists who built this legacy did so despite the barriers. For decades, the cultural infrastructure in communities like Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles has been systematically underfunded. This is more than an upgrade, it’s honoring a long-overdue debt.

DONATE

Have questions about how your contribution can make an impact?
Learn more here.

YOUR GIFT BUILDS OUR ARTISTIC & CREATIVE HOME

• YOUR GIFT BUILDS OUR ARTISTIC & CREATIVE HOME •

Simple white star-shaped graphic on a black background

Printed 2,500 individual works/professional serigraph prints

Red abstract geometric shape on a white background.

Text on a black background highlighting an intergenerational organization with over 35,000 community members and 3,000 young people served annually.

We are close to the finish line!

Your gift helps us finish the renovation of our permanent home, add green space and carry the building into its next chapter with innovative programming, exterior art, and spaces for artists to continue the legacy of printmaking, place making with social justice values.

This includes:

Renovated professional printmaking studio and the addition of a community studio and artist space to help us foster our mission.
Addition of a modular wall system that will allow us to host larger, more frequent communal gatherings.
A new resource room that will house our prints and provide access to local community members, artists, researchers, and scholars.
Enhanced exterior spaces for community members, artists, and staff
New energy-efficient HVAC system to enhance air quality.
Improved lighting throughout the facilities and the introduction of natural lighting.

$2,500

$5,000

$1,000

$250

$500

OTHER

$10,000

Art Piece: Electric Landscape by Linda Vallejo

Linda Vallejo, Electric Landscape, 2008 Serigraph, 20" x 26", Edition of 81. Printed at Self Help Graphics & Art

A stylized star or star-like symbol with a teal outline.

About our Naming Opportunities

A stylized star-shaped icon with a teal color.

From Labor to Legacy

Ofelia Esparza holding Simon bricks during SHG’s building renovation process.

Our historic building, also known as The Ocean Queen, is the 116-year-old building in Boyle Heights that became our home in 2015. Originally a sea urchin packing plant, it was built with bricks from the Simons Brick Factory, where Mexican immigrants from Michoacán, Jalisco, and Guanajuato labored at the turn of the century.

We honor their labor by reclaiming and repurposing the ladrillos in this renovation. The past is not being erased. It is being built for the future.

Illustrated tree featuring four root spaces for Founders, Institutional Partners, Donors, and Legacy Artists, and four branch spaces for Students & Families, Community Leaders, Artists, and Culture Bearers

Rooted in Community

For more than fifty years, SHG has held its place thanks to the artists who make the work, the culture bearers who keep tradition alive, the neighbors who fill the room, the staff who keep the presses going and the doors open, public dollars, and donors who help all of it grow.

Each one is a branch of the same tree, fed by the same roots, holding the others up.

Add your branch as we seed for the future.

Learn more about all the ways you can support

Have questions about giving levels, pledge amounts, or how your contribution can make an impact?

start here

Our building partners

Thank You to Our Supporters

Gifts are tax-deductible

And thank you to our many individual supporters!

Land Ackowledgement

Self Help Graphics & Art is located in Apachianga on the unceded ancestral land of the Tongva people, the first stewards of this land. We hold this ground as caretakers, not owners, with respect for that history and for the people who continue to care for this land.