Meet Catalina Lopez | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Catalina Lopez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Catalina, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
My understanding of how to balance my life has led me to learning more about myself and how I’m not only multidisciplinary in my art but in my life’s pursuits. While I am an artist, I am also an academic librarian, a profession I have always pursued and have been working in universities libraries for more than a decade now. For a long time, I believed that I would have to choose between one profession over the other, seeing a decline in my artmaking over the years. However, I recently found myself not only balancing but merging both my passions together. I now use my research skills to learn and understand Mexico’s indigenous and cultural history, which is part of the theme of my current artwork. However, instead of writing about my research, I am visually presenting what I learn through my paintings.

My current role at a university library is managing the digitization of archive and special collection materials to make the images accessible online for scholars and researchers. I have since gained an appreciation for preserving historical materials from past centuries, and it has motivated me to use memorabilia belonging from my family, primarily from my grandmother, as inspiration in my paintings.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
From the last time I was interviewed by Voyage LA, I shared the story of my grandmother, Maria Candelaria, who was from Guadalajara. Revisiting my memories of her has compelled me to create paintings using items passed down by her. It involved reaching out to family members who held onto some of her belongings to borrow them. I am in currently painting a still life using my grandmother’s old cookware as reference, such as her mortar and pestle, or molcajete, made out of lava rock. I used to have her old molinillo, which is a wooden whisk used to make Mexican hot chocolate. I no longer have it, so I decided to visit a local Mexican food market and buy my own to use for reference. I like the concept of combining pieces from the past and present in my paintings to convey the passing down of traditions and adding new memories.

Another part of my body of work is making paintings of indigenous artifacts from Mexico that I learn about through my studies. One such art piece is “Sunflower Shield” (2022), a painting of a sunflower with an Aztec shield. As I was researching the origins of the sunflowers, I found that they were used for decorating Aztec armor. I plan to share the articles and other resources I use so that my audience can learn along with me through my art, and this will include the “Sunflower Shield” painting.

I feel I have experienced quite a few challenges that artists may face over time, such as perfectionism, comparing your work to other artists, self doubt, not finding your artist style, not being consistent, fear of the business aspect of being an artist. I’ve been through it all. This year I have taken a step back to reflect on why I make art in the first place, which is where I started thinking about telling my story where I try to reconnect with my Mexican culture. I also learned that, even if we see artists making artwork that may have similar themes to what you want to do, everyone of us is unique because of our individual stories.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This is a perfect question because recently my best friend did come visit! We were all over SoCal and did some great trips. Our first stop was The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA. It’s a fairly new museum featuring works of film spanning many decades and focuses on the history of filmmaking. We even saw outfits that were made for “Interstellar,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Black Panther,” “The Wizard of Oz,” and plenty more. We then walked over to LACMA which is its neighboring museum. Afterward, we kept driving and came across the Hollywood walk of fame. My favorite star I saw was for Selena Quintanilla.

One place I always recommend for people to visit is Olvera Street, which a historic street in downtown LA. It is a Mexican Marketplace that sells handmade goods like ceramics, leather, wallets, handbags, belts, folk art from Mexico, and souvenirs. This place is very special to me as I carry memories of my grandmother who used to work in Olvera Street. She would sell her handmade Mexican clothes in one of the shops, which still runs today.

As for food, I recently enjoyed Ahgassi Gopchang, which is a Korean Barbeque restaurant in Koreatown. And if you like sushi, I would definitely recommend Sugarfish.

Now, if you feel like venturing away from the LA City, I would recommend Catalina Island (of no relation to me, unfortunately). My friend and I recently visited and toured the Avalon side of the island. Renting the golf cart is one of the best things you could ever do in your entire life as you get free reign to explore the hills and find some of the best views of the ocean.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
In the past two years, I’ve come to know a wonderful group of artists who have been incredibly supportive of one another’s art journeys. I am grateful to have learned so many tips and advice from them, which I believe has helped me get to where I am as a creator now. There are a lot of artists in this community, so name a few, I would like to give the shoutout to Vero Wang, Eric Romero, Andrew Wong, Bliss, Suzanne Stewart, Bianca Irving, Tabitha, Joseph Dromboski, Mike Hendley, Sara Kollig, Tiledo, Sara Habbab, Anna Paulette, and Salvador Delgado.

Website: catalinalopezart.com

Instagram: catalinalopezart

Twitter: catalinartlopez

Image Credits
Vero Wang