Craft Nouveau

There are many great competitive craft exhibitions one can count on each year, such as The Octagonal, Materials Hard and Soft, and CraftForms. But its always a pleasure to find a new one pop up; and even better when one has work accepted! I was very pleased to find the call for Craft Nouveau at the Blue Line Arts Gallery. Juror Ariel Zaccheo has a great reflective statement here. If you find yourself near Roseville, California, please check it out. Images of included work and an exhibition catalog are also available on their website.

So excited to be teaching at the Pratt Fine Arts Center!!!

Come join me in Seattle to make meaningful metal miniatures!

Air Currency Opens

I am very pleased to announce the opening of my solo show at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Mesa, Arizona. The space is lovely and the staff have been wonderful to work with. Stop by if you get the chance!

Art for Everyone

i am very grateful to Heidi Grew and the rest of the faculty at Chemeketa Community College for including my work in their art appreciation textbook, Art for Everyone. This is the just-released revised edition published by Oxford Press.

Monel Metal in Metalsmith Magazine (…say that five times fast! )

An article I wrote for Metalsmith magazine just came to my email inbox today and it looks great! Monel is not well known now, but it has been used in extraordinary ways and essentially created the market for stainless steel in the first half of the twentieth century. I was made aware of the alloy by Warren Holzman, who gave a presentation about its use in the Bryn Athyn Cathedral in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, at a SNAG conference. Later, when I was invited to speak at the 2019 Looking Forward Iron Symposium, I decided to explore the history of this material. I am grateful to Warren, John Rais, and Mike Rossi for their initial support of the research. I am also indebted to Archivist Gregory A. Jackson and Historic Buildings Project Manager Drew Nehlig of Bryn Athyn for their help, as well as Carlier Makigawa, Simon Cottrell, Michael Bondi and Glenn Gilmore who took the time to speak with me about their experiences with the metal.

Wall of Air at Fort Worth Community Arts Center

A new grouping of work from the You See AC series is now on display at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center until September 3rd. Closing reception August 27th from 6-8pm

Here is my official statement (you can tell its official, because I am using the third person):

Wall of Air presents a series of small sculptures by Ana M. Lopez that address our increasingly complex relationship with air conditioning. Conflating references from the decorative and industrial arts, these objects invite the viewer to consider wealth, display, power and privilege as they relate to this modern amenity.

This body of work borrows forms from the ubiquitous, invisible evidence of artificial air handling that populates many rooftops and exterior walls. These metal forms are typically mass-produced by industrial processes but have been recreated by Lopez through small-scale craft practices. The enamel finishes are inspired by historic ceramic vessels from all over the world. Many of the finished works are presented in the format of garnitures. These sets of decorative accessories were typically comprised of imported porcelain or artful bronze work and were popular from the seventeenth century onward. Typically displayed on mantelpieces, they reflected the owner’s taste and wealth. Lopez’s laboriously crafted arrangements of common rooftop objects of air passage invite one to reflect upon the West’s atmospheric colonization of the global climate.

The title piece, Wall of Air, is an installation of four wall-mounted porcelain-enameled steel boxes embellished with silver. The forms are based on the external appearance of through-window air conditioning units. Walls make air conditioning feasible but they also exclude. As climate change brings increasingly severe weather, control of one’s domestic comfort is likely to become a luxury commodity of increased class disparity.

The exhibition was made possible thanks to a Scholarly and Creative Activity Grant from the University of North Texas.

When your work goes more places than you do...

Some of my pieces recently went to Mesa, Arizona, and won the Juror’s Choice Award at the 42nd Annual Contemporary Craft Show at the Mesa Contemporary Art Museum. Many thanks to Juror Gail Brown. The full catalog is online here.

Forging Community… a year ago

Last March I had the privilege to attend the Austin Forging Competition at Mobile Loaves and Fishes’ Community First! Village. It was about a week before the world closed and life as I know it changed. I drove to a different town. I stayed in a hotel and ate in a restaurant. I think I even hugged people outside my family. Weird. The brief article about the competition that I wrote for Metalsmith Tech came out a few weeks ago. It’s a great reminder of what some seriously talented people can do with three hours.

Night Air Garniture in Under Fire 3

I am very pleased to share that Night Air Garniture was selected for inclusion in Under Fire 3. The show is organized by the Enamel Guild North East and will be displayed online here from October 23rd. There will also be a panel discussion with the three jurors on October 25th at 6pm eastern time, “Whats Up With Enamels Today?” The panel includes the Under Fire 3 jurors: Ruth Ball, Mi-Sook Hur, Sienna Patti, with moderator Bella Neyman.

Invisible Metal: Virtual Tour Now Available

Thanks to the hard-working folks at the Appalachian Center for Craft, you can get a sense of the exhibition!

Appalachian Center for Craft, Smithville Tennessee July 1-August 15, 2020

Invisible Metal

My show at the Appalachian Center for craft, Invisible Metal, is being installed right now. Through the perseverance of Director Debra Ruzinsky and Artist in Residence of Exhibitions Glenna Dame Baker, my long hoped-for installation is being realized. The show will be in the Front Gallery of the Appalachian Center for Craft from July 1 through August 15, 2020. They plan to create a video tour of the show, which I look forward to sharing as well when the time comes. Visiting hours are Monday to Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, Sunday 12 to 5. For now, be well, be safe, make art.

When Worn

Jewelry really belongs on the body. Even in isolation the implied body is part of how we read it - in anticipation of its intended location. Kelly Temple at the University of Central Oklahoma has curated a show that addresses this aspect of jewelry: “When Worn highlights the act of adornment. When placed on the body, jewelry transforms not only the appearance of its wearer, but it inserts itself between the adorned and audience as a signal and an invitation between two beings.”

When Worn includes work by Haydee Alonso, Lynn Batchelder, Teresa Faris, Betsy Lewis, Lydia Martin, Samira Saheli, Alejandra Salinas, Jolynn Santiago, Leslie Shershow, Helen Shirk, Lori Talcott, Kelly Ann Temple, Claire Webb, Petra Winnwalker and myself.

The reception will be this Thursday at the Melton Gallery from 5:30 to 7:30. The show is free and open to the public until March 26, 2020.

An image of one of my pieces on their dean.

photographer Sydney Stephenson, model- Steven Hansen

Materials Hard and Soft

I love this show and I am so grateful that it happens in Denton every year. Not only do my students get to see some excellent work from an international selection of makers but some years I even get to participate! One of my newer pieces, Fort Worth Trash Chute, was selected for inclusion this year. The show runs from February 7 - May 9 with a reception on the 7th from 6-9. The juror this year was Beth C. McLaughlin, Chief Curator of Exhibitions and Collections at Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts. She will be giving a gallery talk on Thursday the 6th at 2:30.

Metal Complexions

Louver: Houston is on its way to….Houston, fittingly. It was selected for inclusion in the Houston Metal Arts Guild’s Metal Complexions Exhibition. The exhibition juror was Anna Walker, Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The show takes place from February 2nd through the 28th at the Jung Center in Houston. In addition to an opening reception on Friday the 7th of February, from 6-9pm, there will be an exhibition Walk-through with Anna Walker on February 19, from 6:00-7:00 PM. If you are in the area I hope you will check it out!

Cityscape 2020

One of my louvers has traveled to South Korea! Louver: Las Vegas was accepted into the Cityscape 2020 exhibition at the CICA Museum in Gyeonggi-do. You can see more information about the exhibition here. I must say, I get a little jealous when my work gets to go places to which I have never been.

Westward Ho!!!

That is actually the name of the exhibition. It was curated by Gail Brown and is the companion exhibition to CraftForms 2019 at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, Pennsylvania. It features work by a selection of artists living in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming. I think it is exceptionally fitting that my contribution is Louver: Phoenix. You can learn more about both exhibitions here.

Louver: Phoenix

copper, vitreous enamel

8 x 14 x .5”

Texas Metals Symposium

I am honored to be one of the speakers at the Texas Metals Symposium this year. Rob Glover and his students always do a great job and it has been such a pleasure to attend in past years as a viewer. Getting to present is super-exciting! It will also be the final stop of the “Not-So-Lone-Star Studios: A Gathering of Texas Makers” exhibition artfully curated by Natalie Macellaio and Kathleen Janvier. This is your last chance to see the grouping before the pieces all go to their respective homes. The symposium is FREE but you need to register, which I recommend you do right now because they have filled up in the past. See you there!

Wearable Pewter Goes to France!

After a trip to the Windy City and a sojourn to Istanbul, the Wearable Pewter exhibition has decided to skip off to France. You can see all these glorious works at Alliages in Lille, September 21st through December 7th of 2019. I like the piece I made for this - it has a lovely weight when worn and it makes bell-like chimes as the pieces tap into one another. However, I must say that my favorite piece from the exhibition is by David Harper Clemons. He cleverly carved the wood in a way that causes the cast pewter to lock into place. These radiating planes create an etherial nimbus for one’s neck. If you find yourself in the area, please check out the show.

PEWTER: not just for tableware

I was really excited to be invited to participate in a Wearable Pewter exhibition. It is a material I have always wanted to work with but, as with so many things, I needed a purpose and a deadline to make it happen. Enter Teresa Faris and James Thurman and the Wearable Pewter exhibition. Its going to be at City Soles in Chicago during the 2019 SNAG conference, then it will travel to Ayse Taki Galerisi in Istanbul, Turkey and Alliages in Lille, France. In addition to myself, it includes work by David Clemmons, Umut Demirgüç Thurman, Dan DiCaprio, Teresa Faris, Frankie Flood, Kyle Patnaude, Juan, Riusech, Michael Rybicki, Donna Sweigart, James Thurman and Jennifer Wells. I hope you will join us for the reception on Thursday during SNAG’s Gallery Crawl from 5-8.

WEARABLE PEWTER EXHIBITION POSTCARD

Pendulous (necklace)

Pendulous (necklace) detail

Circling Back: An Exhibition

The event of a move often brings re-discoveries. When the Metalsmithing and Jewelry program at the University of North Texas moved into new facilities last summer, we found all kinds of things hiding in obscure storage areas. Among them was a box of my work from my years as an undergraduate student. I was simultaneously delighted by the find, confounded by what now seems like poor craftsmanship, and led to compare that work to what I have been doing lately. While my skills have changed, much of of the imagery and formal language that I am drawn to has not.

This prompted my interest in inviting a group of mid-career makers to exhibit one newer work paired with something they had made more than ten years previously. I hoped to provide them with an opportunity for the same moment of  reflection that I had in being reunited with a box of dubious treasures from the past.

I would like to thank all the artists who agreed to participate in the exhibition. Mounting of the physical exhibition was supported with a UNT Small Grant and my travel to the conference received assistance from the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas. I would particularly like to thank my Chair, Lauren Lake, for looking under all the couch cushions.

Circling Back was organized in response to the Society of North American Goldsmith's call for proposals for the Adorned Spaces segment of the 2019 conference. It will be taking place in Chicago, Illinois from May 23rd through the 24th at the Palmer House Hilton with a reception from 5-8pm on Friday the 24th. The theme of the conference is "The Loop: Coming Full Circle. 50 Years of SNAG."

The website for this exhibition will remain active through April 2020.