dani lopez

Instagram: dani___lopez___

Website: http://www.danilopez.us

Bio: dani lopez is a textile artist working within weaving, embroidery, and textiles sculpture to explore queer desire, non-linear narratives, disidentifications, and femme identity. She received her MFA in Textiles from CCA. She has been featured in Hyperallergic, Surface Design Journal, and Other People’s Pixels. lopez has shown at Bedford Gallery, Minnesota Street Project, Bass & Reiner, Amos Eno Gallery, Collar Works, and the Frank Ratchye Project Space. Her work was recently exhibited in Queer Threads, curated by John Chaich, at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. In 2022 she received The Money For Women Grant from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund and a Puffin Grant for her project “3 Dykes Walk Into a Bar…”. In early 2023, lopez attended the Penland School of Craft for their winter residency on a fellowship. lopez was recently named a Lucas Visual Art Fellow at Montalvo Art Center the summer of 2023.

Statement: My weavings borrow queer-coded song lyrics to hint to a knowing viewer that if you know, you know. These works are interested in how I can make weavings do things they shouldn’t. How can I structure a hole or a tear and still have a cloth that survives? Woven cloth is stronger than we realize. While the pieces often feel frenetic and slapdash, they are made slowly and thoughtfully. The energetic through line expresses the intensity of the feeling and emotion behind this work. The materials range from cheap and readily accessible to mid-range so that it reflects my socioeconomic background and means. Textiles are a site of regret and redemption for me. The physical, time-intensive processes are where I examine my regrets, and the works that emerge are an act of reimagining and redemption.