SAMANTHA LOPEZ
STATEMENT
My practice is lived in inbetweens and ands. It is a stolen studio day and a consistent background soundtrack and plant care and dance breaks. I am a painter and a runner, I am training for a marathon and sewing with saved shoelaces. My interrelated experiences have no productive place within capitalism or the object-oriented art world, but rather my practice is thread beneath love and ontop of survival an under-over and around and under over under over of moving forward and sideways and balancing what you need to do with what others need of you.
I support myself working at a children’s fitness center singing if you’re happy and you know it. I am formally trained in textile and sculptural art though I most often can be found planning preschool students' crafts. I make installations in my home and imagine installations in galleries. I am or was a competitive figure skater and I find myself counting in rounds of eights when I sew or jog, imagining the fluidity in my body that raised me on ice that I long for in adult years. And in longing or contentment between texture and temporal and too much and not enough I meet people and fall in love with their ideas and sob to the news and drink coffee and go out for my run and return to home to my lover.
I’m circulating within and around the “ands” and the every days, a practice that feels whimsical yet serious as I wad through the experience graciously.
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
EDUCATION
"Officer of Complexity" Mildred's Lane Artist Residency, 2019
Post Baccalaureate Program, Hartford Art School, 2018- 2019
BFA, Fibers - Massachusetts College of Art & Design, 2018
Diploma, Jackson Liberty High School, 2014
Ringling College of Art and Design Painting Workshop, 2014
HONORS & AWARDS
Massachusetts College of Art and Design Presidential Scholarship, Fall 2014-2018
Lila Chalpin Creative Writing Award, Spring 2016
Stephen D. Paine Scholarship Award, Fall 2017
The Kuhlman Foundation Scholarship, Fall 2017
EXHIBITIONS
In (visibility), Boston MA, Fall 2016
2017 All School Show, MassArt Boston MA, Spring 2017
Undergarments, Sydney Australia, Summer 2017
Underlying Inner Lining, Fall 2017
Dark Matter, Boston MA, Fall 2017
Materialisms, Art Block Gallery South Boston MA, Fall 2017
ReStore Show, Student Life Gallery, Spring 2018
Stephen D. Paine Scholarship Exhibition, Villa Victoria, Spring 2018
2018 All School Show, MassArt Boston MA, Spring 2018 + Curation Team
2018 Senior Sculpture Show, MassArt Boston MA, Spring 2018
Nothingness Carrying Being in its Heart, Distillery Gallery, Boston MA, Summer 2018
Hartford Open Studios, Colt Armory, Hartford CT, Fall 2018
Alexander A. Goldfarb Student Juried Exhibition, University of Hartford, Spring 2018
The Reading Room, Hartford Art School Silpe Gallery, Hartford CT, Spring 2019
Uncommon Threads, Huntington NY, Summer 2022
WORK EXPERIENCE
Assistant Director My Gym, Children’s Fitness Center, September 2021- Present, Stonybrook NY
Orchestrating children's fitness classes including mommy & me style sessions, ninja classes, preschool prep classes, as well as summer camp
Responsible for craft preparation and coordination, maintaining a high energy and child friendly atmosphere.
ABA Therapist, Talcott Center for Childhood Development, 2019
Behavioral and Social therapy for children with autism
Mad Scientist (Boston) 2017- 2018
Mad Scientist (Maine) Summer of 2020
Traveling enthusiastic teacher of science performing shows of impressive experiments as well as leading all-day science summer camps for kids ages 5-12
Team Excel Clothing Internship, Summer 2016
Organizing and placing clothing orders, sizing skaters
Basic Skills Figure Skating Coach, November 2014-2017
Skating Club of Boston Skating Academy, Somerville and Boston
TACTILE KNOWLEDGE
(SKILLS)
Machine Sewing, Sewing machine, industrial machine, and serger experience
(Skills) Hand Stitching, Sewing, embroidery, rug making, embellishing, mending. etc.
Cloth Dying, Batik, Shibori, cold water bath, natural dying and hot water bath, etc.
Weaving, heddle loom or frame loom, various weaves inc. tapestry, plain, twill, etc.
Printmaking, Silkscreen experience
Wood Shop, Experienced and comfortable in
Welding, Some experience, intermediate comfort
Photography, digital experience, and cyanotype/ van dyke printing processes
Programs, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.
TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIP
Introduction to Fibers, with Judith Leeman, Massachusetts College of Art 2017
Sophomore Sculpture, with Hiro Fukawa, University of Hartford 2018
Freshman Sculpture, with Caroline Woolard, University of Hartford 2019
Batik Workshop, with Umani Nnochiri, University of Hartford 2019
