Joe Segura (born 1946) is an American independent and collaborative printmaker and publisher of Mexican descent whose work is closely associated with the geology of Southwest, specifically Arizona, where he resided for a significant part of his life. The subject of his art is also inspired by his Mexican-American heritage and transitional moments in his life. He is inclined to work that asks more questions than provides answers and frequently uses techniques of sarape, linear thread structures yet enjoys experimenting with form and color. He currently lives in South Bend, Indiana.

Biography

Joe Segura was born in Illinois in 1946 to a Mexican father and an American mother. His grandparents moved to the United States from Mexico as migrant workers. Segura has two brothers and two sisters. The majority of his family currently resides in Gary, Indiana and Sterling, Illinois. He has been married three times and has three daughters and three grandchildren.

Segura graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale with an undergraduate bachelor’s degree of arts in painting and drawing. He then got his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) also from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Segura pursued a Ford Foundation Fellowship for his last year and a half at Southern Illinois University and subsequently completed a two-year certification program at the Tamarind Institute, a lithography workshop at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Following an offer from Arizona State University (ASU) in 1979 to set up a studio and work with graduate students in developing a print research facility, Segura moved to Arizona where he also began his art studio in 1980 now known as Segura Arts Studio through which he has collaborated with many well-known artists including Luis Jiménez and James Turrell. In ASU, Segura taught classes on collaboration and conceptualization through which he helped graduate students formalize their work. In early 2013, upon invitation from the University of Notre Dame, Segura relocated to South Bend, Indiana where he currently resides. He was also involved with Consejo Gráfico (Graphic Council), a group of Latino-centered print studios that was based at the Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame.

Segura Arts Studio

The Segura Arts Studio works primarily with underrepresented artists to help place their work in museums and collections where they can reach broader audiences and continue to address issues of social justice in the United States and internationally. It was first established as Segura Publishing Company in 1980 in Arizona where it was open to the public for nearly three decades. In 2013, upon invitation from the University of Notre Dame, Segura relocated to South Bend, Indiana where it was established in a remodeled children’s hospital away from campus. When the studio was relocated to South Bend, Joe Segura decided to change its name to Segura Arts Studio. The Segura Arts Studio is a workshop space that aims to enhance interdisciplinary learning for students and promote the development of relationships between the University of Notre Dame and the local South Bend community. The studio welcomed its first visiting artist, Claudia Bernardi, in August of 2013. Following visiting artists included Faith Ringgold, Enrique Chagoya, and Claudio Dichochea who all helped to further develop and strengthen the connection between the Studio, the University of Notre Dame, and the South Bend community.




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