Art professor featured in five exhibits

By Danna Bertel and Kayla McGee

Kandy Lopez, associate professor and program director of Art + Design in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts showcases her art in multiple exhibits.

Lopez’s artwork, which is meant to portray minorities, includes fiber portraits, collages and stained glass pieces.

“My art represents education, power, perspective, change and hope,” Lopez said.

One of her recent exhibitions ran from Dec. 5 through Jan. 22 in the Historic Hampton House Museum of Art & Culture.

COURTESY OF KANDY LOPEZ Exhibit attendees view Kandy Lopez’s “Court Room Sessions IV” exhibition at Court House Cultural Center, Stuart, Florida in December 2021.

Others include “Roving” in Gallery 221, open until Feb. 28, which also features two other artists, and “Conceptually Green,” a group exhibition of 22 artists that is meant to explore the cultural narrative of the color green.

Another group exhibition is “As We Move Forward” at the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts, which runs until May 10. This exhibition honors the work of Augusta Savage, an educator and sculptor. Seventeen emerging female artists were picked for this exhibit.

Lopez is also part of solo exhibitions such as “(in)visible: Nepantla,” which will include her new fiber portraits exploring the experiences and environments of marginalized individuals.

Another solo is “Our Shadow Remains,” at ARLO Wynwood. Its opening reception is at 6 p.m. on Feb. 21 with the exhibit running through May 15.

“Exhibitions are one of the ways my art can be shared with people. The students also have the ability to see their professor doing her thing currently. It’s a mentorship relationship that I enjoy. They get real-world experiences from someone who is doing it,” Lopez said.

After taking several art classes, Margeaux Miller, senior Art + Design major, feels impacted by Lopez’s teaching.

“As a senior, I feel that she has truly been a mentor for me over the past four years. She is very hands-on and involved with all her students, and it is very evident that she wants the best for us and will help us reach it,” Miller said. “She is making time to meet with all seniors one-on-one to help get us ready for the our next steps as artists in the real world.”