We’re proud to present Essential Workers: A Visual Narrative exhibition opening at Self Help Graphics on Saturday, February 25 from 5:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. The exhibition will be on view February 25- March 30, 2023 and be the last exhibition in our building before our renovation! Please RSVP here to attend the Essential Workers opening reception on February 25 and our artist panel discussion on March 11 from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

Essentials is a group exhibition highlighting and honoring essential workers' contributions and services throughout the US during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixteen artists were invited nationwide to interview and capture an essential worker's journey and challenges that kept society and the country's health, market, and well-being moving forward during challenging conditions. Some subjects include a bus driver, a border travel nurse, a farmworker, and a correctional officer. Their stories have been captured and memorialized into visual narratives through diverse forms of printmaking. 

Participating artists include Marianne Sadowski, Narsiso Martinez, Audrey Chan, Michael Massenburg, Amanda Lee, Hanna Hathaway, Celeste de Luna, Juan de Dios Mora, Charles Cohan, Liz Chalfin, Sojin Kim, Jessica Caldas, Chloe Alexander, Tina Tavera, Carlos Barberena, Poli Marichal, and Osvaldo de Jesús.

The SHG gallery is open Tuesday-Friday from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. and select weekends during public programming. Admission and parking are free. The exhibition is made possible by funding from the Pasadena Art Alliance. 

Muñecas de Cartón presents the intentional, yet spontaneous, joint effort between women artists to create, be heard and be seen. The title is derived from the artist collective's extensive use of cardboard as their medium and the ephemeral context in which the work was created–– site and event specific.

The exhibition features installations, prints, flyers, photos, and protest signs made by the different members throughout its six years, demonstrating the collective's bluntness, activist ideology, and passion for elevating women's voices.

Ni Santas is an autonomous all Women of Color collective whose mission is to create socially conscious visual narratives and promote sisterhood through skill sharing.

Join us for our monthly free Family Workshop on Saturday, March 11 from 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m. at Self Help Graphics. Teaching artist Ernesto Vazquez will lead a foam plate relief printing workshop in conjunction with the exhibition Essential Workers: A Visual Narrative. Registration is not required for this workshop, but encouraged.

Participants will utilize foam plates to create a relief print. Relief prints are images created by carving or engraving an image onto a plate of linoleum, wood, or foam. Using simple tools, participants will create a stamp-like image in which they will apply ink to the surface of the foam plate using ink rollers and water-based ink to transfer the image to a sheet of paper.

Join us for our monthly Wellness Wednesday program on March 15, 2023 from 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m. led by facilitator Xóchitl Palomera, where we’ll welcome the Mexica New year with an exercise in radical visioning. We’ll begin with a grounding meditation then move on to a writing session. The exercise will include a sharing session and plática (discussion) about collective visioning, the power of palabra (spoken language), and the power of collective declaration. We will then end with a movement meditation to close the space and set our intentions in community.

Everyone will take seeds home to grow in this new year. This workshop is open to all ages, but recommended for ages 15+. No prior experience necessary. Please come with an open mind and heart.

Our Professional Printmaking Program is an acclaimed print studio opportunity where artists are invited to participate in creating fine art limited edition prints and monoprints; through a peer-led approach that is dedicated to providing an environment that nurtures their creativity and careers.

If you would like to support opportunities for artists at Self Help Graphics, such as our legacy print program, please make a donation online, text SHG to 41444 or shop prints, catalogues or gifts from our online shop today! Thank you for your consideration.