Joy as Resistance: 2025 Printmaking Summit
On Saturday, June 28, 2025, from 12-5 PM, celebrate the handmade and joyful possibilities of collective artmaking! Self Help Graphics & Art presents Joy as Resistance, our Biennial Printmaking Summit in partnership with the East Side Print Fair and Plaza de la Raza. Join us as we explore 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 will feature printmaking demonstrations, workshops, a panel, live music, poetry, prints for sale by participating local artists, and more!
FREE and ALL AGES.
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. Stay for musical performances by Quitapenas, Irene Diaz, and Heart Shaped Locket, and poetry with Iris de Anda and Amy Shimshon-Santo. Support local vendors. Local artists like Kalli Arte and Ernesto Vazquez will be selling prints at the East Side Print Fair and food will be on sale. There will be a free family workshop. Printmaking workshops and demonstrations will be available for a small fee. Donations are welcome.
print summit schedule
Artist Natalie Godinez leads a Block Printing workshop.
workshops
** Registrations required for ticketed workshops & demonstrations
Styrofoam and Block Printing with Natalie Godinez
12-4:00 PM | MUISC BUILDING
FREE
Join us for a hands-on printmaking workshop where families can create bold, colorful prints using easy block and styrofoam techniques. All ages welcome and no experience needed! Come explore 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
Register here
Join artist Usen Gandra in this fun and easy workshop and create something usable and beautiful from what would otherwise be an endless amount of junk mail, old newspapers, or magazines. Participants will use 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
Register here
Join artist Pavel Acevedo and learn 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 will learn how to print their tessellation designs on to a bandana.
Block Printing by Gisela Ramirez
DEMONSTRATIONS
Collagraphs with Victor Rosas **
1:00-2 pm | ART BUILDING
** Registration required: $5 | 12 participants
Register here
Join artist Victor Rosas to learn how to create collagraph prints. Victor will demonstrate 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
Register here
Join artist Gisela Ramirez to learn fundamental techniques and the process of block printing. Gisela will demonstrate 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
PANEL DISCUSSION
2 PM - 3 PM | MUSIC BUILDING
As part of Joy as Resistance, this panel discussion will explore 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 will moderate a conversation with artists Jackie "Chicas Peligrosas" Hernandez and Dewey Tafoya, SHG Master Printer. They will be joined by Juliette Bellocq from the Corita Art Center and Emily Sulzer from the Center for Political Graphics.
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 are some of the groups that will be at the resource fair! We will also have some “Know Your Rights” posters. Just visit 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 will take place at Plaza de la Raza (3540 N Mission Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90031) in Los Angeles. Parking for this event will be very limited, but street parking is available. There is also limited parking at the Lincoln Park DMV (3529 N Mission Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90031). Carpooling, ride-sharing, and taking public transportation via Metro or LADOT are great options.
2025 print summit
collaborators and funders
