Vincent Price Art Museum Announces Extension and New Public Programs Celebrating Ofelia Esparza: A Retrospective
February 18, 2026
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (Feb. 18, 2026) – Vincent Price Art Museum (VPAM) at East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is pleased to announce the extension of its acclaimed exhibition, Ofelia Esparza: A Retrospective, through May 16, 2026.
This spring, VPAM invites audiences to further explore the work of the Chicana artist, altarista, and educator through a diverse slate of free public programs.
Widely recognized as one of California’s most revered folk artists with a cultural impact spanning more than seven decades, Esparza helped bring the cherished traditions of Mexican altar-making and Día de los Muertos into the American mainstream, beginning in the 1970s, through her work with community arts center Self Help Graphics & Art in Boyle Heights. The retrospective recreates a selection of Esparza’s iconic altars, accompanied by the first-ever museum survey of her prolific artistic output, spanning from 1945 to the present day.
Our spring programs invite audiences into Esparza’s creative world through hands-on workshops, intergenerational conversations, and collective celebrations that highlight the full arc of her work in painting, drawing, printmaking, altar-making, and creative storytelling. Together, they call attention to art and cultural memory as foundations for collective strength and empowerment.
Public programs include:
VPAM Community Art Lab: Watercolor & Crayon Resist
Saturday, Mar. 7, 2026, 1 to 3 p.m.
Vincent Price Art Museum
Join us for a free, family art-making workshop inspired by the watercolor and crayon resist artworks of Ofelia Esparza. Drawing from Esparza’s approach as both an artist and educator, families will explore this expressive technique—combining crayon and watercolor—to create vibrant images rooted in everyday life and community. Led by teaching artist Cynthia Huerta of Love with Joy Art Club, this hands-on workshop invites participants of all ages to create together, experiment freely, and connect through art. All materials provided—everyone is welcome!
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Walk Gently Upon This Earth: A Conversation on Sacred Origins with the Esparza Family
Saturday, Mar. 28, 2026, 1 to 3 p.m.
Vincent Price Art Museum
This special program invites visitors into an intimate gallery walkthrough and dialogue centered on two powerful altars in Ofelia Esparza: A Retrospective. Led by the artist and members of her family, this program offers insight into Esparza’s spiritual, cultural, and political foundations, and the ancestral knowledge that has guided her work for more than seven decades.
The conversation will focus on Defenders of Mother Earth, an altar honoring environmental and human rights activists who gave their lives protecting land, water, and life itself, and Raíces Cósmicas, a cosmic altar celebrating creation, Indigenous cosmologies, and humanity’s sacred relationship to the natural world. Through shared stories, symbolism, and lived experience, the Esparza family will reflect on the altars’ origins, materials, and messages—inviting participants to consider care, responsibility, and reverence for Mother Earth as both cultural inheritance and collective call to action.
Community members are warmly invited to gather, reflect, and engage in dialogue on ancestral knowledge, care for the earth, and collective responsibility.
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Poetry Writing Workshop: The Words We Carry
Saturday, Apr. 18, 2026, 1 to 3 p.m.
Vincent Price Art Museum
Celebrate National Poetry Month at VPAM with a poetry writing workshop inspired by the art and altar-making practice of Ofelia Esparza. Led by Los Angeles-based poet Gloria Enedina Alvarez—a Chicana poet, intermedia artist, literary translator, curator, and creative writing educator—this workshop explores how poetry, like Esparza’s work, can serve as a space for memory, devotion, and storytelling rooted in family and community. Using Ofelia Esparza: A Retrospective as inspiration, participants will be guided through writing prompts that transform images, objects, and personal histories into poetry. This workshop welcomes writers of all experience levels and invites participants to engage with Esparza’s art through words.
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Ofelia Esparza Closing Celebration
Saturday, May 9, 2026, 1 to 4 p.m.
Vincent Price Art Museum
Join VPAM for a special closing celebration of Ofelia Esparza: A Retrospective, marking the culmination of the exhibition on view since October 2025. This afternoon brings together community members, artists, and longtime supporters of Esparza’s work for an afternoon honoring women as artists, educators, and culture bearers. The program will feature a panel conversation highlighting women community culture bearers in art, along with live screen printing, and musical performances. Taking place during Mother’s Day weekend, guests are invited to bring their mothers, chosen family, and loved ones to celebrate creativity, care, and community together. More details to be announced soon.
For more information and to RSVP, please visit VPAM’s website.
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Ofelia Esparza: A Retrospective is organized by the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. The exhibition is curated by Joseph Valencia and Sybil Venegas with Gloria Ortega.
The exhibition was made possible with lead support from the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Generous support provided by Teiger Foundation.
Additional support provided by the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), and the Pasadena Art Alliance.
All exhibitions and programs at the Vincent Price Art Museum are underwritten by the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation and East Los Angeles College.
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About Vincent Price Art Museum
The Vincent Price Art Museum (VPAM) at East Los Angeles College serves as a unique educational resource for the diverse audiences of the college and the community through the exhibition, interpretation, collection, and preservation of works in all media of the visual arts. VPAM provides an environment to encounter a range of aesthetic expressions that illuminate the depth and diversity of artwork produced by people of the world, both contemporary and past. By presenting thoughtful, innovative, and culturally diverse exhibitions and by organizing cross-disciplinary programs on issues of historical, social, and cultural relevance, VPAM seeks to promote knowledge, inspire creative thinking, and deepen an understanding of and appreciation for the visual arts. Learn more about VPAM at vpam.org.
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About East Los Angeles College
East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is the largest of nine two-year community colleges within the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD). More information about ELAC is available online at www.elac.edu. Follow ELAC on social media at Facebook @EastLACollege, X/Twitter @EastLACollege, and Instagram @ELACHuskies.
For VPAM press inquiries, please contact Katie Dunham, Katie Dunham Communications, at katie@katiedunham.net.
Featured image by Paul Salveson.