Taller de Artes Graficas

What is their story?

Malaquías Montoya founded Taller de Artes Gráficas as a way to offer silk screen and printing classes to students and the community. It was initially established within the newly formed Emiliano Zapata Street Academy in 1973 in the center of the Fruitvale community at the intersection of Fruitvale Avenue and E.14th Street (now International Blvd). After a couple of years it moved into the Comité de Mexico y Aztlán (COMEXAZ) offices just down the street at 3210 E.14th Street. 

Malaquías took inspiration from the Taller de Gráfica Popular - a Mexican print collective established in the 1930’s with the purpose of using art to advance revolutionary social causes. As the name suggests, it was a print workshop for the people. Malaquías’ Taller de Artes Gráficas operated in the same spirit. Although it was primarily a silk screening workshop, it was also a place where art was made accessible to the community through education and print-making. It provided a direct connection between the artists and the community, where the artist was to work with and for the community and their needs.

Malaquías, a student at UC Berkeley and later a professor there, decided to escape the confines of the university and do his own thing by establishing the Taller de Artes Gráficas in the Fruitvale working alongside community activists, educators and organizers who were active in advancing the Chicano Movement in the Fruitvale.

Taller de Artes Gráficas existed until around 1981, and throughout its time Malaquías not only produced hundreds of posters that publicized the events and struggles related to the Fruitvale and surrounding Bay Area, but also created a place where art and artists could connect directly with the community. The work of Malaquías and the Taller emphasized the responsibility of the Chicano artist to work for the people and highlighted the transformative role artists would play in the Chicano Movement.