Exhibition and Programs Coordinator Lulu Urdiales Sustains History Through Art
By: Dani Nalangan
Lulu Urdiales sees the vibrancy of not just artworks, but their culture and history.
As the Exhibition and Programs Coordinator, Urdiales has seen countless pieces in her studies and work at SHG, spanning different cultures and mediums. Appreciating the beauty in all of them—from Samoan Tatau tattooing, to comics, to woodblocks, to the simple lines and delicate golds of the jewelry she crafts herself—she works to share it with the community, making art accessible through exhibitions, digitization, and other means. I sat down with her as she told me her story, from appreciating art to sustaining it in the archives. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: I guess to get started, could you tell me a little bit about how you grew up? Like, where you were from, what your interests were going into school and stuff?
A: So I was born in Michigan. I was born in Lansing, Michigan while my mother was finishing her doctorate at MSU. So I am a Spartans lover for life. But I actually grew up in California, my parents decided to move back to California when I was about two. So I can claim that I'm raised in L.A., but not born in L.A. And I actually grew up I guess, in the suburbs of L.A. I grew up in the Diamond Bar, Whittier, and Hacienda Heights area. But my parents grew up after they immigrated to the United States in East L.A. and kind of like the K-Town area. So they always made it a point to have us always go into the city, whether it was to visit family or to just go to events. And one of those event hubs that we always grew up going to was Self Help Graphics. So like, I have a tie to Self Help Graphics in that I grew up going to marketplaces, and going to events there when we were still at the old building. And I have memories of like, running up and down those stairs and like, totally not wanting to be there with my parents and their friends. But, you know, now I look back, and I'm like, wow, that was such a cool opportunity to be at the building when we were still there.
Going on to my education, I finished my bachelor's at UC Santa Cruz. And I started as a psych major, I thought I wanted to kind of fall in the footsteps of my mom and be a psychologist. But I wanted to do art therapy. And I took a whole bunch of psych classes, I was ready to declare and move on in the major. And then I took an art history class to fulfill a GE and that was it. I realized, what the heck am I doing, like doing stats work when I could be writing about all of these cool pieces and all of these rich cultural hubs and cultural communities. So I switched majors and finished in art history, and Santa Cruz likes to be a little different and they call it History of Art and Visual Culture. And the shorthand for that is HAVC. But I think that degree is special in that it focused on steering away from the Western-Anglo view of the art world, it focused on encompassing the entire world. So I took, you know, dedicated courses offering about Pacific Island art, and I fell in love with the traditions of Tatau or tattooing. So I wish I had more tattoos. Each class wasn’t just an overview of art, it took an ethnographic look at different cultures.
But after Santa Cruz, when I was wrapping up my last credits, I realized that I could finish a little early. I didn't want to have to go back to Santa Cruz for one quarter and have to sign a lease for an apartment. So I was trying to find an internship here at home, and I just came in at the right time. I stumbled upon Self Help Graphics, I had kind of fallen out of its community between those early years when I went as a kid and I ended up coming back as an adult. And I think, you know, that kind of goes with like the timeline Self Help Graphics history moving out of that previous building and moving into the new space, that transition period. So I came back to Self Help in 2016 and started an internship and I'm still here, x amount of years later. But in being at Self Help Graphics, and kind of moving past that first internship, I've been able to explore the different facets of the arts nonprofit & archiving world. Through my experiences, at SHG I've found what my next steps are and that's led me to start a master's program in Library Information Sciences which I will be completing soon, fingers crossed. But I think that's been my trajectory so far.
Q: When did you get into art and decided that's kind of what you wanted to pursue in college and afterward? And did you practice art at all?
A: I'm not a practicing artist. I wish I could claim that and like, say that but I'm not. I can draw stick figures and like flowers, that's where my artistic practice ends. I am a jeweler, and I guess like that's, you know, a section of art. But my love of art started early on because my parents were keen on exposing me and my sister to that world and making sure that we were aware of that. Not just “highbrow” museum world art, but also local artists to appreciate them. I grew up with a love of museums and learning, to the point where I would take summer camps at the Natural History Museum—very nerdy, very geeky. I think they still have this program, where you could go into the back end of the museum and take classes in their science department to even learn how to dissect owl pellets and just get to see the behind-the-scenes. So I grew up loving to learn and I think that mixed with my appreciation for art has led me to where I am now. Still looking to learn more about art and learning how to care for art.
Lulu Urdiales during our 2021 Annual Print Fair showcasing some works from the archives.
Q: So afterwards, going into art history and later working with exhibitions and stuff—I know that during your internship, you were part of the curatorial team for the Dia de los Muertos exhibition—I'm wondering what goes into curating an exhibition? Like, what kinds of pieces are you interested in looking for when you're doing that sort of work?
A: So for that particular exhibition, I was a research intern for the PST Dia de los Muertos 2017 exhibition. So what I supported was a lot of that back end work to find the materials that we then chose to move forward with. So I got to go to CEMA, which is the California Ethnic Multicultural Archive at UC Santa Barbara, who Self Help Graphics has a long standing partnership with. I was able to explore the archives there and look at photographs, different documents throughout the years, and artwork. So during that phase, I helped to create this big body of materials from which then the curatorial team could pick from. Each exhibition is different depending on the vision of the artist who's curating the exhibition, or like the staff member here who's curating the exhibition. I'll just say that for that exhibition in particular, it was focused on the legacy of Day of the Dead, and the practices here at Self Help Graphics, and that influence of Latin America on the L.A. area. So for that exhibition SHG showcased Day of the Dead prints throughout the years alongside historical objects. This included historical photos of folks during the workshops in the ‘80’s and ‘70’s and then comparing them to the workshops that happened more recently. Since the exhibition did have an educational component it was important to include that historical side so that folks get the full picture, right? I hope that answers that question.
Q: No, that's super cool. Through everything that you've looked through when doing that work, have you found a favorite piece you've ever seen?
A: So I had this moment—and like, I think a couple of the staff members have had this moment too of like, it clicked about how oh, wow, we're working here at Self Help Graphics, and this is how important this institution is. For me that started in one of the other main projects that I worked on when I first started. I was a part of the appraisal team that looked at everything in the entire SHG collection. So I got to sift through everything. And in doing that, there were pieces that I recognized from textbooks, and I had that moment of like, oh, wow, I am holding history here. So there have been a couple of those like, “Oh, wow” pieces.
Serigraph artworks throughout the years including artworks by Judy Baca, Jeff Huererque, Linda Vallejo, Rigo Maldonado, Yolanda Gonzalez, and Miguel Angel Reyes.
And I'm happy to say that I actually own one of those pieces, it's called Our Lady of Controversy. That was one of my very heavy “oh wow” factors, and it's by Alma Lopez. And it's very much one of those pieces that you've seen in textbooks or like you've seen on the cover of textbooks. There’s been so many other artworks by legacy artists like Frank Romero, Diane Gamboa, Patssi Valdez. There's a piece by Tina Hernandez called Ya Basta. I've definitely seen that in a textbook. And I think another big piece is by this artist. His artist's name was Magu, and we had a piece titled Turtle Island that just has so much detail it makes you go wow. There are other pieces outside of the prints that have, like, you know, shocked me. Like there's pieces that date back to the early 70’s of posters that artists made for historical institutions like Teatro Campesino. So I think it's just, there's a lot to unpack here on the files, and you can spend years delving into the background of everything. But I think, for me, it was recognizing the legacy and influence of Self Help Graphics.
Q: With all the pieces that you like, what kinds of or what do you like about them? Are there certain themes that you enjoy artists exploring or do you like certain artists in particular? What draws you to the pieces that really stand out to you?
A: Well, yeah, I think it's, I think it's both those things, right. I think there's like, specific iconography that I'm drawn to, but also like the vibrancy of color in certain pieces. So like with that Alma Lopez piece, I'm learning that I'm developing a Virgen de Guadalupe collection. So she's always like a staple in my growing collection. But I think I also like strong female figures, which is why I like that Tina Hernandez print. There's also Esther Hernandez's work, and Yreina Cervantez’s work too.
But then there's also these artworks that just have this vibrant color. So like there's this piece by John Tallacksen called Serenata en el Callejon. It pictures this guy who is singing up to like the stoop of his lover, and just the colors are just really interesting. There's another piece by this artist named Joey Terrell, and its part of the Homombre atelier which was dedicated to featuring male identifying queer artists. His artwork is called, Remembrance For Teddy, and there's these beautiful birds of paradise flowers. So I think it's just that right, like, it's twofold. What are the specific images, but then there's also this vibrancy of color. Um, I’m not necessarily drawn to like one-toned pieces, but I understand the intricacy that can have intricacy that can happen in those one-toned pieces. Especially when you look at, there's this gigantic piece by the artist, William Acido. It's called En Route to County that is a woodblock, technically. So it's all one color, but when you understand that, like he had to carve each image out there's that shock factor of like, wow, to do that, let alone for a small piece, but to do this for this giant piece. It's just amazing.
Q: I'm curious if you ever had the opportunity to come up with your own exhibition or anything like that. Do you have anything you'd like to explore if you were to do your own?
A: That's something that Marvella and I have been talking about when we're looking at the 50th anniversary. And since we won't necessarily have access to the building when we're turning 50, we are looking to have satellite exhibitions over the span of the next three years. So I'm interested to see where I can assist in curating one of those. But throughout the past 50 years, there have been so many different ateliers—atelier is just like the fancy French word for collection—but ateliers of artworks focused on specific topics that haven't necessarily seen the light of day in a while. So I'd like to go back to see what hasn’t been showcased in a while. Like there was a specific atelier focused on like comic books. There was also an atelier on the street vendors and merchants, that various pieces have been used for exhibitions, but it hasn't been showcased as a whole in a while. And there's also themes of female identity that would be interesting to showcase. So I'd like to delve into, you know, the entire collection and look at pieces that haven't been showcased in a while to pull those out.
Q: With your role as Exhibition Coordinator, and also with studying art history in college, I'm interested in what drew you to studying art? What drew you to learning about art in particular, and also pursuing this career, not necessarily like practicing art, but working with it in this way? Why do you think that's important to you?
A: I think having that foundation, and understanding the value of art, really pushed me to maintain that appreciation. So I think when it came to taking courses in college, my appreciation grew just past the, you know, the physical artwork in front of me. It became appreciating the community that that artist comes from, the traditions that are associated with that community. So I think for me, it's not just caring for the artwork, but it's also caring for the history and legacy that it carries. So I think that's more of my focus in ensuring that this artwork and all of you know, the history and community and legacy it carries gets to be maintained for further generations. And I think that's where my art appreciation and library science mode intersect. So, in the master's program, right now, I'm learning how to do just that. Whether it's like physical work of restoring an artwork, or if it's like the backend work of like, coding for our database to make sure it can maintain and be sustainable for all the information we're inputting. So I think it's more than just art appreciation. It's art caring, maintenance, sustainability, that ultimately ties to what I do here Self Help Graphics, right? It's not just making sure everything looks good for the exhibition, which is a big part, but it's making sure that everything here in the back space is well taken care of and organized in a thoughtful way, right, so that when we do come back to the building after the renovation this can be another education site for folks to come in and explore the archive.
SHG’s onsite archive space, where Lulu does her archival work.
Q: Doing that kind of work at Self Help Graphics, have you had any cool experiences that you've had or any memories that stick out to you, accomplishments that you've done while you’ve worked here?
A: I will say a lot of the projects I work on are ongoing, so they're kind of slow rolling. So I mean, I think one of those major accomplishments was assisting with that appraisal, and really helping the institution get a better sense of how much there is in the archive. And even that was just a starting point for us to be able to transition to a digital platform, or an online database. There have been instances when I get to show people what's in the archive, and being able to show people what's in the archive means I know where things are. So it's having that system in play, where I can have it organized to the point where I can say, you know, “here, would you like to see this historical piece?” Most recently we've had a lot of student tours, so it's been great to be able to show them things. Recently we had a crew of conservationists of color come in and help us to teach us how to further care for art pieces that have a little bit of damage. So in that workshop, we got to learn how to safely remove mounting tape and take care of the piece. I think for me, that's something that I want to keep going or keep doing for the pieces here, whether it's like having folks come in and teach us or learn how to do that through certificate programs to be able to bring that knowledge back here.
Q: I think it's super cool, working with people of color that are working in like fine art, because of the importance of preserving this culture, so I think that's like really important work.
A: Yeah, yeah. Because it's not just like, you know, preserving for the sake of being able to sell pieces, right? It's really recognizing that there is a vast history here that we're the caretakers of, right, and are tasked with that care and sustainability of everything that's here.
Q: I'm curious about your jewelry making. I know you mentioned it earlier, but how did you get into that?
A: So my grandmother was a jeweler. She started like, in the 70’s or 80’s when Tupperware parties were a big thing, but she was like, “why would I sell Tupperware?” So she learned how to make jewelry, and she passed that knowledge down to me and my sister and it stuck with me more. But yeah, it's all thanks to my grandma. So she taught me how to wire things properly and work with fine metals and semi precious stones. So I do have a small business, it's been kind of on pause while I'm in school because there's no way I could take on a third thing but it'll come back up when school is done.
Q: What kinds of jewelry do you make?
A: We work with sterling silver, gold filled, and we can work with gold, like 18 and 14 karat gold. But it's all like everyday wear that combines semi precious stones for their benefits. So like we wear obsidian for protection of evil spirits. But it's all meant to be like everyday wear that you can wear to help you focus on whatever your needs are. Whether that's like, using blue semi precious stones for your communication skills, or obsidian and black tourmaline for protection when you're feeling a little funny or feeling like somebody's giving you the evil eye. [Lulu laughs]
Q: What kinds of designs stand out to you or you try to emulate? Because I know there's lots of different kinds of designs for jewelry.
A: Yeah, I always kind of go for the more simple look, because I think a part of me is like, my healing practice is special to me so I don't want to put it out there, that you know I'm working on x, y, and z. So a lot of our designs are like simple lines, simple pieces. There are the heavy more intricate pieces that we'll work on and those feature a lot of wire work. But a lot of it is like simple shapes and like basic lines to make sure that this is really something you can wear every day and don't have to like take off and on so that you could even hop into the shower with it.
Q: With your work, the things you value like preserving history through art, do you have any goals or things you'd like to do like in your career? How would you like to impact art?
A: Yeah, I mean, I think this applies to Self Help Graphics and beyond, but I do hope to further my skills in being able to preserve that knowledge and expand it past just the hands on or preservation work, but also really be aware of digital trends. As we move forward here on the digital platforms, how can that be applied elsewhere, not just for us on the back end to be able to track things but also for like, visibility of the archive, which is one of my goals here—making everything available for folks to be able to research. Because right now, our back end is private, it's only for staff. So I think—that kind of leads me to what I want to do in general at Self Help Graphics—is really work to make this kind of work visible, if that makes sense. And kind of lift that veil of what that work looks like in the back end of archives. And like library spaces and Special Collections too, because I think there's this misnomer of like, “Oh, well, you're just a librarian.” I was like, “Yeah, but do you know what just a librarian does?” So I think my goal is to kind of lift that veil and be able to share and educate and be an example for folks in the community of how to get into that work? What does that work look like? And just, yeah, lift that veil of misinformation. Because I had no idea this was a possible line of work for myself when I first started. And it's something that I've learned by working at Self Help Graphics. But again, like, if I didn't work here at Self Help Graphics, I think it would have taken me longer to figure that out. So I think being an example for folks or just like a guide for other folks to learn about the archive space and archive world is important to me. But of course, then, I need to be fully educated. And I don't just mean the Masters, right? I think it's networking and learning from other folks as well, so that I can share that knowledge. Outside of Self Help Graphics, though, I still do hope to work in a space that understands the importance of history keeping and sustainability.
Dani Nalangan is the summer/fall Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Arts Journalism and PR Intern at Self Help Graphics & Art. She is a musician and illustrator studying Musicology and Communications at UCLA.