After nine years of living in Sebastopol, local mosaic artist-slash-international actress Maria Isabel Lopez has her first local art exhibit Sept. 8 through Oct. 18 at Petaluma’s Usher Gallery, with a reception from 5 to 8pm, Saturday, Sept. 12.
The exhibit, titled “Illumination in Glass—the Mosaic Art of Maria Isabel Lopez,” was planned for July, but Lopez’s involvement in a serious car accident in the spring pushed it to this new date. However, much like the fragile yet resilient glass used in her work, the forced slow-down was cause for Lopez to take it easy, heal, reflect and perhaps refract, changing a negative experience into a positive one.
“The accident was very serious,” says Lopez. “I had to slow down, but the drive to create is activated… The process of healing is working our mind, body, emotion and the spirit. This incident made me more creative as I learned, heard and was led closer to the ‘forces’ behind it.”
Hailing from the Philippines, Lopez credits much of her creativity to growing up in the impoverished area of Balic-Balic. “I created my own toys, designed my own clothes from hand-me-downs… recycled food … and I am grateful [for that experience],” she explains.
Her life growing up in the Philippines is also on display in the exhibit via an early mosaic piece using organic found materials like sand, pebbles and glass from her native land. Lopez says this is “to show my evolution as a mosaic artist.” She also quickly adds, “It’s not all glass mosaics [but] mainly glass, despite it being rigid, sharp and unforgiving. It’s because no other medium interacts with light, preserves the rich colors and offers lifetime durability like glass does. It requires time, patience, precise labor to cut and shape a few cc’s of blood, but the rewards heavily outweigh the difficulty.”
Digging deeper, Lopez continues, “By introducing raw, natural elements to the art, utilizing this ancient art form with a contemporary approach, I aim to glamorize the discarded and the organic. It is a through-line of taking the Earth’s raw beauty and illuminating it.”
Indeed, Lopez talks the talk and walks the walk as a creative person—it’s genuinely refreshing to hear because it’s evident she means it. While her home is in Sonoma County, she sort of leads a double life as a fairly well-known actress in her native Philippines, with well more than 100 credits as both a star and a producer. Yet she remains extremely down to earth, saying, “Waking up, I focus on a new day, a new life, connected to a supreme power that whispers, that leads, that inspires.”
From there, she sets about her day, be it creating her art, acting, arranging flowers or cooking from the vast garden behind the 1850s farmhouse in Sebastopol she shares with her husband, John Melrod, a human rights attorney.
Usher Gallery owner Rachel Usher is excited to showcase Lopez’s work, saying, “One of the joys of having a gallery is discovering artists through other artists. Virginia Travers, one of our artists and a longtime friend of Maria Isabel Lopez, introduced us, and I immediately fell in love with Isabel’s work. We’re so excited to bring ‘Illuminations in Glass’ to Usher Gallery and introduce her work to our community.”
Although the exhibits title leans in to one of Lopez’s more commonly used mediums, she’s quick to point out the title is more of a thesis statement and that “the art is bound together by reflection and refraction, not just in how light physically moves through glass but in how we look at the world around us.” She continues, “Refraction: Using glass to bend and manipulate light, I transform a static piece into a living, shifting experience. Reflection: I want viewers to look at my work and see a reflection of the environment.”
For more information on ‘Illumination in Glass—The Mosaic Art of Maria Isabel Lopez’ at Usher Gallery, 1 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma, check out ushergallerypetaluma.com.
