Joy as Resistance: 2025 Printmaking Summit
Thank you for participating in our 2025 printmaking summit!
Our next Biennial Printmaking Summit will take place in 2027!
On Saturday, June 28, 2025, from 12-5 PM, we celebrated the handmade and joyful possibilities of collective artmaking! Self Help Graphics & Art presented Joy as Resistance, our Biennial Printmaking Summit in partnership with the East Side Print Fair and Plaza de la Raza. Thank you for join us and exploring how joy and printmaking have long served as tools for resistance, empowerment, and world-building!
The Printmaking Summit’s mission is to build bridges among master printers, emerging and seasoned artists, as well as aspiring youth toward a solid foundation in printmaking. The day featured printmaking demonstrations, workshops, a panel, live music, poetry, prints for sale by participating local artists, and more!
DOCUMENTATION
Alvaro Parra recorded and edited the panel discussion, which you can watch here.
2025 SHG Print Summit photography is by Danielle Del Rosario.
SHG on the Press
Since the 19th century, printmaking has been a powerful tool for challenging the status quo. Its analog methods utilizes materials that are accessible and affordable, making it inclusive to diverse imaginations. Despite the rise of digital media, artists continue to embrace its handmade techniques, indulging in its slow and collaborative rhythms. Contemporary printmakers experiment with tradition and innovation; materializing new worlds and rejoicing in the possibilities of the medium.
Featuring workshops and demonstrations led by artists Pavel Acevedo, Usen Gandara, Natalie Godinez, Victor Rosas, and Gisela Ramirez, and a panel discussion moderated by curator, Claudia Zapata, with artists Jackie "Chicas Peligrosas" Hernandez, Dewey Tafoya, SHG Master Printer, and Juliette Bellocq from the Corita Art Center, and Emily Sulzer from the Center for Political Graphics. The summit included musical performances by Quitapenas, Irene Diaz, and Heart Shaped Locket, and poetry with Iris de Anda and Amy Shimshon-Santo. Local artists like Kalli Arte and Ernesto Vazquez sold prints at the East Side Print Fair and food was on sale.
PRINT SUMMIT SCHEDULE
PANEL DISCUSSION
2 PM - 3 PM | MUSIC BUILDING
As part of Joy as Resistance, this panel discussion explored the role of printmaking in social justice movements. From traditional prints to community-based projects, printmaking has empowered people to express their unique perspectives, creating connection and collective agency in the process. Printmaking, like joy, has long been a site of resistance, where artists deconstruct the status quo to reconstruct new worlds. Curator Claudia Zapata moderated a conversation with artists Jackie "Chicas Peligrosas" Hernandez and Dewey Tafoya, SHG Master Printer. They were joined by Juliette Bellocq from the Corita Art Center and Emily Sulzer from the Center for Political Graphics.
workshops
Styrofoam and Block Printing with Natalie Godinez
12-4:00 PM | MUISC BUILDING
FREE
In this hands-on printmaking workshop, families created bold, colorful prints using easy block and styrofoam techniques. Participants explored texture, shape, and storytelling through the art of print.
Papermaking Workshop with Usen Gandara **
12:30- 2 PM | ART BUILDING
** Registration required: $15 | 12 participants
In this fun and easy workshop, participants created something usable and beautiful from what would otherwise be an endless amount of junk mail, old newspapers, or magazines. Participants used found or recycled paper material to mold sheet(s) of paper with a screen and create new sheets of paper!
Printmaking Patterns (Tessellations) Workshop with Pavel Acevedo **
3:30-5:00 PM | ART BUILDING
** Registration required: $15 | 12 participants
Participants learned to design and carve linoleum blocks to create amazing repetitive patterns. A tessellation, also known as a tiling, is a repeating pattern of shapes that fills a plane without any gaps or overlaps. Participants learned how to print their tessellation designs on to a bandana.
DEMONSTRATIONS
Collagraphs with Victor Rosas **
1:00-2 pm | ART BUILDING
** Registration required: $5 | 12 participants
Participants learned how to create collagraph prints. Victor demonstrated the process of creating a plate design using found objects to create textures and create unique effects.
Block Printing with Gisela Ramirez **
3:00-4:00 pm | ART BUILDING
** Registration required: $5 | 12 participants
Participants learned fundamental techniques and the process of block printing. Gisela demonstrated how to use tools, print with a printing press, and printing by hand to achieve similar results.
EAST SIDE PRINT FAIR
12 - 5 PM | OUTDOORS
LIVE PERFORMANCES
12 PM - 5 PM | OUTDOOR STAGE
RESOURCE FAIR
12 -5 PM | OUTDOORS
The Wellness Center, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the Transl@tina Coalition, and Eastside LEADS were some of the groups that were at the resource fair! We also had some “Know Your Rights” posters at SHG’s La Tiendita!
LOCATION & PARKING
2025 Printmaking Summit will take place at the Plaza de la Raza, located in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles.
This year’s Printmaking Summit took place at Plaza de la Raza (3540 N Mission Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90031) in Los Angeles.
2025 print summit
collaborators and funders
