Week 3: Pola Lopez

Wiki Outline/Draft:

Pola Lopez (born in1954) is a Chicana visual artist known for her cultural murals and vibrant paintings. 

Biography

Pola Lopez is a self-taught artist who was born and raised in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Her love of painting and her use of bright colors began when she was a child. Her dreams of becoming an artist were always supported and encouraged by her father who was a poet. As a senior in high school, Pola Lopez witnessed the Brown Berets painting on the walls of her high school and witnessed the powerful imagery of these artistic cultural murals during the Chicano Movement. These murals played a role in educating the public and portrayed the Chicano culture by including Aztec imagery. This was the moment she realized she wanted to dedicate her life to her art. 

Without any plans to attend college, Pola Lopez would spend her days painting and selling her art to her local community in Las Vegas, New Mexico. As she began to exhibit her work in front of her own studio, she gained recognition from a group of Chicanx artists from Santa Fe. These Chicanx artists were members of an artist exhibition group called “La Cofradía de Artes Y Artesanos Hispánicos.” Seeing Lopez’s art work, the Chicanx artists invited her to join them in Santa Fe. Lopez then moved to Santa Fe where she participated in this Chicanx organization where she would continue to exhibit her cultural artwork.  

In 2003, Pola Lopez eventually made her way to Los Angeles where she wanted to be a part of the Chicanx art movement scene. Later, she would be recognized and respected as an established Latina/Chicana artist in her community and beyond. From 2009 to 2016, Lopez’s studio/exhibit, known as 2 Tracks Studio, was a space open to the public as part of her efforts to educate and expose the community to the arts. She has completed sixteen murals in schools and her local communities. Due to COVID-19, Pola Lopez moved back to her native state of New Mexico in October 2020 where she continues her art.    

Art

Throughout her artistic career, Polar Lopez's paintings often possess a spiritual meaning. Lopez’s art uses the power of color to provoke her mixed cultural heritage, what she refers to as “Mestizo,” where she incorporates both Spanish/European influences and symbolic indigenous imagery. Her paintings often deal with issues regarding her identity as a Chicana and her work often provokes women’s empowerment.

In 2006, Pola Lopez was given the honor to represent New Mexico and share her work as the official portrait artist of “the New Mexico People’s Holiday Tree” at the White House in Washington D.C. In 2009, she was a Keynote speaker at the 16th annual “Latino Issues Conference” by Bowling Green State University in Ohio. In 2011, she was featured in a distinguished exhibit called “Adelante! Mexican American Artists: 1960’s and Beyond,” in Glendale, California.

In early 2019, Pola Lopez along with other notable artists, participated in the National Hispanic Center’s Qué Chola exhibit. This exhibition “celebrated Cholas and homegirls in art and popular culture as symbols of feminine strength and resilience in the face of racial, gender, and economic adversity.” In the exhibition,  Lopez displayed her “Coatlicue and Chola” painting which portrays a Chola with her arm placed on an Aztec goddess’s statue. Like many of Lopez’s works, the message of the painting portrays Latina/Chicana strength and resilience.

In July of 2019, Pola Lopez completed the restoration of the “Southwest Museum of the American Indian Mural,” which was painted over with graffiti back in 2013. Lopez is familiar with mural paintings and has worked on murals with youth in the juvenile justice system and other members of the community. For this mural’s restoration, Lopez wanted to continue celebrating indigenous culture that the original artist intended to possess. With the completion of this mural,  Chicano art has been brought back to the community that has seen issues of gentrification over the last few years.

References

https://alibi.com/art/58063/La-Lopez-Returns.html

https://www.polalopez.com/about-me

https://www.nhccnm.org/event/virtual-exhibition-que-chola/