Artists & Communities Host Site: Self Help Graphics and Art
3802 Cesar Chavez Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90063
Web site: www.selfhelpgraphics.com/

Millennium Artist:
Tomie Arai
Printmaker and Installation Artist
New York
E-mail: araiwong@rcn.com

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Beginning with a traditional Bienvenida (welcoming reception), Self Help Graphics and Art introduced printmaker, installation artist, and Artists & Communities Millennium Artist Tomie Arai to its Los Angeles community.

Arai's residency included a series of artist talks (one for graduate students at the University of California - Irvine), as well as workshops in printmaking and installation art for local artists and young people. While working with Self Help Graphics, Arai explored the differences and similarities between her perspective as an Asian woman and those of Self Help Graphics' largely Latino community. This partnership inaugurated a cultural exchange between Self Help and the Japanese American National Museum, which included a talk by Tomie Arai about her work and methods, and a presentation about Self Help Graphics. There are now plans to extend this exchange through a joint exhibition later in 2001.

Tomie Arai's residency with Self Help Graphics gave her access to their well-appointed print studio, where she worked with on-site Master Printer Jose Alpuche and Etching / Woodblock Steward John Montelongo to create a suite of new works. Some of this work was included in "LAtitudes," a collaborative mixed-media installation that opened in Self Help Graphics' Galeria Otra Vez in May 2000.

In devising "LAtitudes," Arai and eight local artists - Alex Donis, Ofelia Esparza, Pat Gomez, Rebeca Guerrero, Sojin Kim, John Montelongo, Peter Rangel, and Shizu Saldamando - collaborated with Master Printer Alpuche and each other, screenprinting on non-traditional materials using a variety of experimental techniques. Encompassing each artist's experience of being "other" in America, "LAtitudes" investigated the themes of identity and culture, geography and place, memory and time.

Tomie Arai also returned to Los Angeles in October 2000 to work with the young people who participated in Self Help Graphics' summer program and to mount an exhibition of their work.

MILLENNIUM ARTIST BIO

Tomie Arai is a printmaker, installation artist, and public artist who has realized commissions from the Arizona Humanities Council, Cambridge Arts Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program, the General Services Administration of the Federal Government, and the National Endowment for the Arts.