Exhibition "Annie Lopez: Origin Story" opens Saturday!

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Image | Annie Lopez, Favorite Things [detail], Cyanotype prints on tamale wrapper paper, thread, zipper, Courtesy of the Artist

ANNIE LOPEZ: ORIGIN STORY

Opens Saturday, January 13

Annie Lopez is a storyteller. Informed by family history, remedies, and lived experiences as both a Mexican-American and fourth-generation Phoenician, her stories are told with text and images through her signature photography and cyanotype prints. The exhibition Origin Story highlights two main bodies of the artist’s work: her dress forms and the Storybook series.

Lopez’s striking dresses are fashioned from vintage photographs printed as cyanotypes on tamale wrappers and woven together. The material holds a strong cultural connection, recalling tamale preparation with her family on Christmases past. While demonstrating her inherited skills as a seamstress, Lopez highlights the financial demands of the art industry. “I use materials that people can find anywhere, you can use a pencil, you can use this paper. Be more flexible with your artwork,” she says. Her use of ready-made materials focuses her craft on story and message, rather than the cost of creating.

The Storybook series imprints memories: Lopez’s experience of being singled out because of her skin tone, a time when her father found a discarded couch in the alley, her time on the Romper Room School show in 1963. Though personal and often poignant, her stories are relayed with a humorous wit. Both the dress and Storybook works invite visitors to consider their own origin stories and to think critically about how family histories are documented and remembered.

UPCOMING EVENTS

VIRTUAL ART TRIVIA HAPPY HOUR: COLOR!

January 18, 5:00 PM (AZ Time)

Join us in the new year for a confetti-like celebration of color!

For this round of Virtual Art Trivia Happy Hour, we’ll take a twirl around the color wheel and look at art composed predominantly of one hue. Whether your favorite is yellow or blue, there’s sure to be a work that appeals to you!

As usual, the multiple choice trivia questions will be fun for all attendees (no art background needed) and answers will be anonymous. So grab a snack and your beverage of choice, and we’ll see you on Zoom for another vibrant round!

Image (From the Collection) | Minda Hess, La Grande Place [detail], 1958, Oil on canvas, Gift of Edward Joseph Gallagher, Jr.

VIRTUAL CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST ANNIE LOPEZ

January 24, 5:00 PM (AZ Time)

Nationally recognized and highly awarded, Lopez was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Her art practice, which focuses on the Chicano and Mexican experience in the Southwest, has taken her across the country.

Lopez was honored by the National Museum of Women in the Arts and awarded the 2016 Arizona Governor’s Arts Award. She was featured in Phoenix Magazine’s “Best of the Valley 2023,” The New York Times’ “The Much-Vaunted American Melting Pot,” and many more.

Join us for a virtual conversation with the artist and UAMA Director Olivia Miller as they discuss Lopez’s work on view in the UAMA exhibition Annie Lopez: Origin Story.

ART IN THE NEWS

FULL ARTICLE

NYT ARTICLE: "PIECING TOGETHER A BLACK IDENTITY, AND A WHOLE BLACK WORLD"

"In a single work, Mr. Marshall manages to address a huge sweep of racist history in America — from the slaveholder’s claim to human ownership, to the traditional intimidation tools of white supremacists, to redlining Black neighborhoods as a way of devaluing Black homeownership and limiting generational wealth."

– Margaret Renkl on Kerry James Marshall's Century 21, currently on loan from the UAMA collection in Frist Art Museum's Multiplicity exhibition

MEMBERS CORNER

MEMBERS STUDIO TOUR WITH ARTIST BARBARA GRYGUTIS

January 27, 10:00-11:00 AM

We're pleased to offer UAMA Members an exclusive studio visit with artist Barbara Grygutis!

Through her work, Grygutis creates public spaces that enhance the built environment, enable civic interaction, and reveal unspoken relationships between nature and humanity. She engages the public through her work by identifying themes meaningful to each individual site and community.

Please register below to join us! Not yet a UAMA Member? Learn about the benefits.

MEMBERS MORNING: BLACK HISTORY MONTH

February 3, 9:00 AM

In honor of Black History Month, our February Members Morning will feature a selection of works from the UAMA collection by the myriad Black artists who have made, and are making, an invaluable impact on the art world.

Members Morning is a series where the UAMA opens one hour early to Museum Members on the first Saturday of every month and offers exclusive programming. Come mingle with fellow members over coffee, pastries and eight centuries of art.

Image (From the Collection) | Jacob Lawrence, Diners (also, Café Scene) [detail], 1942, Gouache on paper, Gift of C. Leonard Pfeiffer

ART IN THE COMMUNITY

2024 ARTWORKS EXHIBITION: FACE2FACE

On view January 12, 5:00-7:00PM

BIO5 Institute, 1657 E. Helen St.

Don't miss this annual exhibition by the artists of ArtWorks, an outreach program housed in the Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities. This year's show features portraits created in collaboration with students from the School of Art's Art & Visual Education program.

SACAL: A UNIVERSAL MEXICAN

On view through February 5

UArizona Bookstore, 1st Floor

This exhibit features 21 bronze sculptures by José Sacal — renowned sculptor and ceramist from Cuernavaca, Mexico. The sculptures will relocate to the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture from February 6-10.

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