Consejo Grafico Nacional: Latino Printmakers in the United States

Starting in 2000, a group of independent printmaking workshops/talleres began to form a coalition, the Consejo Grafico Nacional, with the mission to “advance the capacity and legacy of Latino printmakers (inclusive of all Americas) in the United States.” Through a combination of collaborative projects, exhibitions, and educational outreach, the Consejo promotes critical and cultural activism in Contemporary Art.​

How can artists spread new ideas and change society? For centuries, printmakers have created and shared urgent messages, reaching broad audiences with the rapid distribution of multiple printed images. The Consejo Grafico Nacional, an independent coalition of printmaking talleres (workshops), carries this work forward.​Today, the Consejo artists reflect on cultural exchanges taking place between Latin America and the present-day United States. As we reconsider western American art at the Eiteljorg Museum, these artists remind us that the stories the American West never stopped at the Rio Grande River.

This exhibition presents two distinct Consejo portfolios created collaboratively with printmakers at talleres in Chicago, Texas, California, New Jersey, New York, and Puerto Rico. The portfolio La Huella Magistral: Homage to Master Printmakers recognizes the artists’ teachers: master printmakers who taught, mentored, or inspired them. The portfolio Los Americans: Same = Different explores tensions of how American identity is defined across national borders.

Through these two portfolios, Latin American printmakers in the United States explore the impact of educators, symbols of identity, and the power of working together in community.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website