Kicking off the 45th Anniversary of Self Help Graphics & Art

Looking back at our founders

Scholar JV Decemvirale (UC Santa Barbara) has been researching the foundations of SHG with a focus on Sister Karen, Carlos Bueno and Antonio Ibanez over the past year. Working from artwork, the SHG archive, and interviews with artists and people close to them, JV will share his findings and then moderate a conversation with friends and collaborators of Carlos Bueno: 

• Willie Herrón
• Ricardo Munoz
• Milton Jurado aka "MAJA"

This event is part of a series celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Self Help Graphics & Art

Bios:

Willie Herrón

Born in Los Angeles, Willie Herrón III's artistic career spans over forty years of national/internationally recognized performance and conceptual art, including music composition (member of Los Illegals and founder of ELA's Vex Club), as well as the design and execution of internationally recognized iconic world-class murals. Herrón was also one of the founding members of ASCO, the East Los Angeles based Chicano artists collective (1972 to 1987). 

His vast experience as an art restorer and conservator of public landmarks of cultural heritage have gained wide media attention as he completed six restorations of the historic 1984 Olympic Freeway Murals, Los Angeles 2012-2017, commissioned by the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles.
Including the 1973 "Moratorium: the Black and White Mural" in Estrada Courts, Los Angeles 2016-2017.

Herrón’s artworks are seen in films, music performances and museums throughout the US and Europe. Recently in the exhibition "¡Murales Rebeldes!" at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Los Angeles 2018,  "LA Raza" and "Chicano Males Unbonded" at the Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles 2018 and the new Whitney Museum, New York 2015. 
Examples of his work were included in "Asco: Elite of the Obscure, A Retrospective,1972-1987” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 2011, at Williams College Museum of Art in Massachusetts (2012), Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA), the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC),on the campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in MexicoCity, and at the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago (2013).

Ricardo Munoz

Ricardo Munoz was born in Arizona, his family relocated to Los Angeles when he was 4yrs old.  All his schooling took place in Los Angeles, at the following schools:  Rowan Avenue School, Riggin Avenue School, Avenue 21 School, Nightingale Jr. High School, Franklin High School, UCLA, USC and UCLA Law School.  At UCLA he took an Art Appreciation course and an Art History course of Western Art from the Renaissance to the present.  Prior to taking the art courses he enjoyed looking at works of art he observed in books, museums and public places that included murals, sculptures, statues, graffiti and billboards.  After completing his schooling and becoming a lawyer his interest in art works was very much lifted when he took a job as a lawyer with Model Cities Center for Law & Justice.  This occurred because Self Help Graphics & Art also was a tenant in the same building as the Center for Law  & Justice.  SHG artists became friends of Center staff and some of them arranged to have their art works displayed in the Center's office space.  Carlos Bueno painted a beautiful mural entitled, " La Luna Conquista el Sol," in the Center's lobby. Ricardo Munoz visited with Carlos Bueno as he was painting the mural and this is how their friendship began. This really motivated Ricardo Munoz to collect art, so he in turn got his wife, Maria Teresa (Terry), interested in collecting art they could display in their home.  He and his wife's earnings did allow them to afford to do some collecting of art works over many years.  They developed friendships among many artists and Carlos Bueno was one of them who they so much liked.  He was their house guest the last four times he had shows in Los Angeles.  Terry's sister, Maria Elena, is in the same Franciscan Order that Sister Karen was in and they were close in their views of their roles as Sisters.  Sister Karen did come to the Munoz' home on occasion with Maria Elena to visit Maria Elena's and Terry's mother who lived with the Munoz family.  Sister Karen enjoyed seeing works by Carlos Bueno on the walls of the Munoz' home.  Ricardo and Terry Munoz have been and continue to be strong supporters of Chicano/ Latino visual arts programs and venues in the Los Angeles area.

Milton Jurado aka "MAJA"

Milton was born in Quito, Ecuador in 1953. He first came to California in 1972, where along with other Latino artists he helped start Self-Help Graphics in East Los Angeles. He joined other Mexican and Chicano artists such as Sister Karen Boccalero, Carlos Bueno and Antonio Ibanez to explore and promote a new kind of artistic expression. Due to his cultural background and traditions in Ecuador, Maja brought with him the knowledge of an art form not yet known to the artistic community in this hemisphere; namely, artistic sculptures made from the unlikely medium of everyday bread. Inexpensive and available everywhere, Maja was able to create miniature sculptures of human figures out of this most unexpected medium. Not surprisingly, these small creations found an audience in the local art scene. MAJA continues producing work today and was most recently included in two Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA exhibitions at Self Help Graphics & Art and Loft at Liz's.