Born in Colorado, Dolores Guerrero (who has sometimes been known professionally as Guerrero-Cruz and as Guerrero-Torres) grew up in East Los Angeles and became committed early on to both the Chicana/o and feminist movements. She studied art at California State University, Los Angeles, and while a student there began her long association with Self-Help Graphics. While pursuing her education at the University of California, Davis, she continued her screen printing activities with the RCAF in Sacramento. She transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1977, and graduated a year later while simultaneously working with the Public Art Center of Highland Park. She supplemented her art education with the study of graphic design at Los Angeles Community College and the Otis-Parsons School of Design. In 1984 Guerrero was invited back to Self-Help Graphics and continued her association there for years, working as Sister Karen Boccalero’s assistant and establishing the annual Day of the Dead celebrations. She also became involved in public art, working with students to create several murals in the Los Angeles area. In 1996, while teaching a screen-printing class at Pasadena City College, she recognized the scarcity of schools teaching that craft. The result was the Canela Studio and Screen Print School, which she and partner Juan Gómez opened in January 1999.

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