Name Teresa Lopez | ||
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WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN NEW YORK FASHION WEEK | Maria Teresa Lopez
Born in Humacao, Puerto Rico in 1957. Teresa López is an artist, graphic designer and art professor living in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Contents
- WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN NEW YORK FASHION WEEK Maria Teresa Lopez
- Education and Early Career
- Teaching
- Plastic Art
- References
She is the creator, graphic designer and director of Orificio, an independent art publication of contemporary Puerto Rican art, . This publication showcased the intellectual and artistic production of established and emerging contemporary artists of Puerto Rico, functioning also as a space of exhibition.
Education and Early Career
During her twenties, the artist took courses in photography in Sacred Heart University and several art courses at the Art Students League. During this time she also worked as a commercial photographer with José Santa Cruz and, later turning to painting, exhibited regularly in "Galería San Juan", owned by Janet D’Esopo. Starting in 1985-6 López exhibited regularly in the vanguardist MSA Gallery (Movimiento Sintetista Actualizado), directed by Teo Freytes and Yrsa Dávila, which eventually led to the formalization of an education in art at the School of Fine Arts (SFA) ([Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico]. In SFA, Teresa López studied art with Puerto Rico’s top artists such as: Julio Suárez, Carlos Collazo, Domingo García, Sylvia Blanco, Adelino González, Melquíades Rosario, Manuel García Fonteboa, Consuelo Gotay, José Alicea and many others. By 1992 she graduated from SFA with a bachelor's degree (BFA) in Painting. Moreover, López was part of the "Taller de Cayey", a collective studio set up in an abandoned tobacco warehouse in Bo. Cuyones in Cayey, and founded by Marcos Irizarry, Carlos Collazo and María de Mater O’Neill in 1988. In 1993, López –in collaboration with Dhara Rivera and other artists such as Nestor Otero and Elías Adasme– also organized Situarte93, a one-day interdisciplinary event in the Taller de Cayey that included more than fifteen artists, to celebrate its final closure, in memory of recently deceased artist Carlos Collazo.
Teaching
After graduating from SFA, she worked for several years as an Assistant Designer to freelance designer and artist María de Mater O’Neill. Soon after, she was recruited by the SFA to teach in the newly created Image and Design Department, also becoming its second director. Together with María de Mater O”Neill, López was responsible for revising and creating the curricula for the new program in 1993. After several years teaching in SFA, she created the publication project Orificio, as a way of getting students and professors to share their artistic and intellectual production. After leaving SFA in 2002, she decided to keep the project going (ISSN 1939-3342), but this time as an independent art project periodical. After this, López published four more editions. Orificio #6, the last and most recent edition, was commissioned and exhibited in the Independent Publications section of the 2nda.Trienal Poli/gráfica de San Juan: América Latina y el Caribe, celebrated in Puerto Rico in 2009. Some of the artists that collaborated in the different Orificio editions are: Charles Juhasz-Alvarado, Elizam Escobar, Maryanne Hopgood-Santaella, José Luis Vargas, Jose Jorge Román, Julio Suárez, Ana Rosa Rivera Marrero, Joaquín Mercado, Kristine Serviá, Lilliam Nieves, Carmen Olmo-Terrasa, Freddy Mercado, Carlos Fajardo, Adal Maldonado, Ernesto Pujol, Garwin Sierra and Vimarie Serrano.
Plastic Art
Additionally, López has been active, as a plastic artist, in Puerto Rico's art scene for the last twenty years. Some of the most recent events and exhibitions in which she has participated are: Publica 3, 2nda.Trienal Poli/gráfica de San Juan: América Latina y el Caribe, San Juan, PR, 2009; Arte Nuevo Interactiva 2009, Mérida, México, Online exhibit: http://www.cartodigital.org/interactiva; 0508 Net Art + Net Video Colectivo, San Juan, PR., Online exhibit at www.0508dondeveoarte.com, 2008 [2] [3]; Optika 2, Visual Narrative Simposium, Sala de exposiciones Edif. Chardón, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Mayaguez. Others include: Muestra Nacional Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Antiguo Asilo de Beneficiencia, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, PR.; Tu Tran, a project of artist Charles Juhasz-Alvarado (as a collaboration), Fundación Miró, Barcelona, España and Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan; 100 Años, 100 Artistas, Arsenal de la Puntilla, San Juan, PR.; Pequeño formato, Galería Luiggi Marrozzini, San Juan, PR.; Encuentro de Artistas Jóvenes de Puerto Rico y la República Dominicana, Casa de Teatro, Santo Domingo, RD; Retratos y Autorretratos, Galería Latinoamericana, San Juan, PR. Among special projects created by the artist there are: 23+interrogantes, online at: www.lasinterrogantes.blogspot.com and Coconututopia II, blog at: www.coconututopia.blogspot.com.