[photo credit: The Huntington]
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens will host a linoleum printmaking workshop on Saturday, February 7, taught by Boyle Heights artist Ernesto Vazquez in partnership with Self Help Graphics & Art, the pioneering East Los Angeles print studio that has supported Chicano and Latino artists since 1973.
The workshop, running from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Melanie’s Classroom, connects directly to The Huntington’s exhibition “Radical Histories: Chicano Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum,” on view through March 2. The exhibition features 60 works spanning six decades of Chicano printmaking activism, starting with the 1960s Delano Grape Strike.
Participants will transfer pre-drawn designs onto linoleum blocks, carve images using gouge tools, and create printed editions. Vazquez will introduce printmaking’s role in social justice movements and its significance for artists of color.
Self Help Graphics traces its origins to 1970, when Sister Karen Boccalero began producing prints in an East Los Angeles garage with Chicano artists to use art as an instrument of social change. The organization purchased its current building at 1300 E 1st St in Boyle Heights in 2018, becoming one of a handful of Latinx-serving arts organizations that own their own buildings.
The collaboration reflects The Huntington’s expanding efforts to diversify programming and connect with Southern California’s Latino communities through partnerships with pioneering East Los Angeles arts organizations.
Participants aged 14 and older are welcome, with those under 18 requiring adult accompaniment. No previous experience is necessary, though participants must sketch designs beforehand. Designs must be six by eight inches, and all supplies are included.
Linoleum Printmaking Workshop with Self Help Graphics will run on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, at 11 a.m.–2 p.m. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. For more information, call (626) 405-2100 or visit https://www.huntington.org/linoleum-printmaking-self-help-graphics. Ticket prices: $100 public, $90 members.