By Jennifer Cuevas

Sister Karen, presente! Today, May 19, would have been our Founder, Sister Karen’s, 87th birthday! We are so grateful for her vision that began from her garage in East Los Angeles in 1970, known then as Art, Inc., and for paving the way for printmaking Artists worldwide, along with co-Founders Carlos Bueno, Antonio Ibáñez, and Frank Hernández. 

“As we celebrate Sister Karen's legacy on her birthday today, I reflect on her words in this interview and the way artists have shaped our community and culture. The pandemic and its impact on our ability to gather and connect has so many of us wondering how we can continue our cultural work in new ways? Sister Karen is reminding me that the artists will lead us, they will innovate and it's our role to support them in this effort, just as she did during her incredible tenure at the helm of Self Help Graphics,” said Executive Director, Betty Avila. 

On the heels of the Vietnam War, Sister Karen and her fellow co-Founding Artists recognized the value of Chicano, Latino and Mesoamerican art and social justice and officially incorporated the organization in 1973 as Self Help Graphics & Art. Through printmaking, they helped to uplift the voices of our communities at a time when Chicano and Latino-American artists were not typically featured in national museums and gallery exhibitions. 

“That was the initial idea. Was to say what you had to say your way. Not in a way to conform to a model that was created by someone else and that was institutionalized to the point to say who had talent, who didn’t, who could paint and who couldn’t paint. It was like bringing art into life and making art part of life. Which I think is really the critical element that we have as an example of the Chicano art movement. That art isn’t just something that someone teaches out of a book, or that only a few people practice. Art is a part of life. It’s a part of who people are and how they live their lives and how they feel about their families, and the food they’re eating, their houses, their personal objects that they use, that they identify, their history, their clothing, who they are, their facial expressions. Art is part of life and so we have the right to express ourselves and emphasize those things or show that part of life that we want to show, rather than what someone else thinks of as important,” said Sister Karen (excerpt of archival footage).   

47 years later and still fiercely independent, Self Help Graphics & Art is one of the preeminent Latinx arts organizations and art center’s in the country. With more than 2,000 print editions in its archive, SHG has been the training ground for some of the nation’s most prominent Chicano and Latinx artists to date. If you support the arts and fostering the next generation of Chicana/o and Latinx artists, please consider making a donation today to Self Help Graphics. Giving is easy. Text APF20 to 41444 or go to www.selfhelpgraphics.com/donate today. Thank you! 

Jennifer Cuevas is SHG’s Communications Consultant. She is a Cultural Arts Producer, with a passion for the arts, social justice and policy.