Dewey Tafoya
Position title: Master Printmaker. Asst. Director, Professional Printmaking Program, Self Help Graphics

Dewey Tafoya a visual artist and screen printer from Boyle Heights, California. Growing up in an era of nightly helicopter malathion spraying, police street sweeps, punk rock and oldies, he makes art echoes the urban landscapes, cultures and communities of inner city Los Angeles. Often using satirical humor, much of Dewey’s work deconstructs historical contexts and then reconstructs them from the viewpoint of the oppressed. Dewey has been part of the Self Help Graphics & Art creative community for nearly two decades, beginning as a volunteer for the organization, teaching for SHG’s Día de los Muertos community arts workshops, supporting and being a lead teaching artist in the reboot of the Barrio Mobile Art Studio program, and teaching printmaking for the SOY Artista summer youth program. Dewey has degrees in American Literature and Chicano Studies from UCLA and over the past seven years has printed for artists such as Yreina Cervantes, Dalila Paola Mendez, Sandy Rodriguez, Leo Limon, Pete Tovar, and many more in the Self Help Graphics & Art Professional Printmaking Program.