TONALLI STUDIO FOUNDERS
TONALLI STUDIO was founded by a group of beautiful artists who worked tirelessly to develop our mission and vision, with the intention to create a space of Creative Wellness. Although some have moved on to other projects, this intention remains central to all ongoing programming. We are grateful for this meaningful collaboration and their continued participation as contributing cultural practitioners, instructors and artists, supporting our presence here in the heart of East Los Angeles. - Gracias amigas!
Pictured above: Opening reception Ofelia Esparza “Behold The Goddess” solo exhibition March 15, 2015. (Front row: Rosanna Esparza Ahrens, Ofelia Esparza, Dr. Elena Esparza, D.C. Back row: Marialice Jacob, endy trece.)
Ofelia Rivera Esparza @ofrenda1
Ofelia Esparza is a Chicana artist, altarista (altar maker) and educator from East Los Angeles, where she has lived since her birth in 1932 and raised nine children alongside her husband of forty years. She is a sixth generation altar maker and is recognized for her work with Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG), specifically for her community ofrendas (altars/shrines) for Dia de Los Muertos. She began building public altars in 1979 at Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG), where she also became a printmaker under the tutelage SHG founder, Sister Karen Boccalero. Cultural arts practices were integral to Esparza’s own classroom curriculum at City Terrace Elementary School until her retirement in 1999. Ofelia’s work honors womanhood and the dignity of her community which reflects indigenous spirituality founded in nature, informed by her mother’s Purepecha traditional practices of ofrendas, nacimientos (nativity scenes), and altars honoring Tonantzin (Our Lady of Guadalupe).
Esparza has taught altar-making at Plaza de la Raza in East L.A. since 1984. In 2016, she was conferred an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humane Letters by California State University, Los Angeles. Esparza was honored with a National Heritage Fellowship in 2018 from the National Endowment for the Arts, and is a 2021 United States Artists Fellow.
Rosanna Esparza Ahrens @sannazan
Rosanna is a Chicana, installation and graphic artist, born and raised in East L.A. She and her siblings, represent the 7th generation of altaristas (altar makers) a traditional practice passed down from her mother, Ofelia Esparza and all the maternal grandmothers from Huanimaro, Guanajuato, MX. Rosanna has worked and created side-by-side with her mother as a Master Altarista for Día de Los Muertos ofrendas (altars) since 2001 and has exhibited at Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian (D.C.), the National Museum of Mexican Art (Chicago), Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, Downey Performing Arts Theater, The Getty Center, Plaza de La Raza and her beloved, Self Help Graphics & Art. She was a participating designer for Marvel’s Halloween Special “Werewolf By Knight” and Cultural Advisor for PIXAR’s 2017 animated feature film “COCO”.
Rosanna also runs a graphic art and sticker business with her husband, called Sticky Rick’s. In 2005 they pioneered the first ever adhesive art exhibition in the US titled “PEEL HERE Sticker Show”, an epic street art event was held at the no longer existing Ghetto Mansion in downtown Los Angeles. PEEL HERE Sticker Shows were an important opportunity for street artists to share space as a community. Exhibitions at Ghetto Mansion 2005, 2006, and 2007, then NOMAND COMPOUND 2008 and SELF HELP GRAPHICS & ART 2010.
Dr. Elena Esparza, D.C. @drelenadc
Doctora Elena was born and raised in East Los Angeles. She has studied physical medicine, manual medicine, herbal medicine, and energetic medicine throughout the United States, Mexico and Central America. She received her Doctorate of Chiropractic Medicine in 1999 from the Southern California University of Health Sciences, Los Angeles. She also received her Masters of Science in Counseling Psychology with a Spiritual Emphasis, at the University of Santa Monica in 1996.
Dr. Esparza has a family practice in the heart of East Los Angeles and specializes in detoxing the body on all levels: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Besides maintaining a local family practice, Dr. Elena also founded the very popular donation-based community offering, Karma Clinic, which she started during the pandemic to address the urgent need to provide services to the community during those uncertain times.
As a life enhancement coach and a licensed spiritual guide, Dr. Esparza has developed a number of beginning and advanced workshops and retreats to promote health and wellness cultivation, personal transformation, and spiritual empowerment.
Erendira Bernal @endytrece
endy trece is an intermedia community artist, culture bearer, leader and strategist. Her performance art and visual work is rooted in her indigenous cultural dance traditions, and branches out through her intercultural ceremonials, exchanges, autonomous study and travel. Butoh is also a strong influence in her work, as she has studied in Japan with Semimaru of Sankai Juku, as well as Yoshito Ohno among other butoh masters in Japan.
Her preferred art practice is creating an installation about an ecological or social issue in public space and performing a dance sequence repeatedly for 4-6 hours. The intention of her art practice is to create inspiration and opportunities for people to look within, contemplate and discuss important issues as a community.
She has performed throughout California, Texas and New York as well as in Mexico, France and Japan. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Science, and is a National Association of Latino Arts & Culture Advanced Leadership Institute Alumni .She is on the Board of Directors at Self Help Graphics and Art in Tongva Territory (aka Los Angeles).
c/s
Marialice Jacob @_maj9
Brazilian born Marialice Jacob, has lived in California for over 35 years. Uniting her background in music, dance-performance, languages, psychology and women’s health education she pursued the Expressive Arts and received a MA in Art Therapy. During the years performing, organizing, and coordinating cultural events and art shows, she also taught and worked in the public schools and community spaces with families, young women and children.
Extending her endeavors in the arts, she found herself co-directing and co-curating many of the exhibitions at Tropico de Nopal Gallery-Art Space for 12 years where the visual arts took center stage, creating a prominent space featuring and cultivating Latinx/Chicanx arts in Los Angeles.
With the Women’s Collective at Tonalli Studio, she helped create a studio-gallery, managing and curating exhibitions for its first 3 years. She has worked with many artists in different capacities, expanding the definition of consulting-assistance-management to representation and curatorial. She has also created an array of hand-made books, and in the last few years, artists books and catalogs for printing and distribution . Her work strives to connect and share the diverse, rich and unique tapestry of the arts and cultures in Los Angeles.