Page 50 - the NOISE October 2015

PASSION IN PLEIN AIR
STORY BY Sedona Plein Air Festival at the Sedona Arts Center. CLAIR ANNA ROSE
Gretchen Lopez is one of the featured artists at this year’s
This October the Sedona Art Center will be holding it’s 11th Annual Sedona Plein Air Festival. I meet with Gretchen Lopez, a Flagstaff artist who has been showing and teaching at the Sedona Art Center for nearly 14 years now. She tells me of her love for teaching, her passion for
painting and shares about the loss of her husband John and how that has shaped her life and work this past year.
Ms. Lopez’s story of her love of art goes back to her childhood. “When I was in school my strength was art,” she tells me. “I would do all kinds of sketching and drawing — I loved to draw when I was a kid. My art started growing when I worked in advertising and design after I got out of college. I wanted to be a fashion illustrator, so I went to the College of Design in Pasadena and took classes there.”
When she worked in advertising she would illustrate the clothes that were brought in to her. It was during those years of experience that she cultivated her skills as an artist. “That’s how I got to the point where I really wanted to take it further and do more with fashion,” she tells me.
“After John and I started dating he encouraged me to take a look at my ethnic background — be inspired by that, rather than looking at things from a commercial standpoint. It was a good thing because advertising and design was a very stressful field. I’d work all day long and then go to school at night. I wanted to use what I’d learned to do what I wanted with my art.”
The competition and deadlines didn’t blend well with Ms. Lopez’s creativity, and she soon struck out in a new direction with her art, honoring her heritage and capturing moments in time in plein air.
A flamenco dancer’s fingers whirling in floreo as her skirts whip around her stomping feet; a guitarist’s brow furrowed with emotion; an antiquated tractor glinting in the sun in an abandoned field of grass — these are just some of the moments the painter captures.
While watching Ms. Lopez as she paints in front of a classroom full of students or an audience at an art opening the painting unfolds rapidly on the canvas. The flick of a brush can capture an expression or the flow of movement. “It’s not quite right,” she might comment and with a quick swipe of a rag across the canvas and a gasp of protest from spectators, undo her work, only to paint an improved version within minutes. Perhaps that is part of what makes Ms. Lopez’s paintings feel so alive — the spontaneity and non-attachment to the brushstrokes being “right.”
One of Ms. Lopez’s greatest inspirations was her husband John. Throughout the years he was a constant support and would be found at her classes and shows, offering feedback (he was a talented artist in his own right) and of course, during my breaks as a costume model handing me my guitar and calling out, “Play Me and Bobby McGee.”
The two first met while they were going to Ventura College. “After we got married — that’s when he really taught me how to paint,” she recalls. “He introduced me to a lot of technique and things that he had learned right from the beginning until the end. Our thing was painting people. We loved working with the human figure, we loved portraiture and things of that nature.”
To make ends meet in the early days as a couple in Los Angeles the two would collaborate on freelance projects. “I never dreamed that I would be teaching now,” she confides. The couple came to Flagstaff in 1987 and lived in Kachina Village.
Ms. Lopez began teaching at the Sedona Art Center in 2001. “John would come to the classes — he was incredible,” she remembers. “He would chip in without taking over what I was doing. He would gently go up to a student because I’d be so busy and help them. It was a really good
rhythm that we had.”
Her husband would often offer feedback while Ms. Lopez was painting, and with a smile and
a laugh she tells me sometimes she didn’t want to hear it in the moment. “He’d see something in a painting I’d do and he’d say, ‘a penny for you thoughts,’ and I’d say ‘No!’ He’d say, ‘Really quick, just one thing ...’ and he was always right. He was always patient, he was always persevering. He was such a dynamic person.”
The 14 years Ms. Lopez has been teaching at the Sedona Arts Center she describes as a blessing. “They’ve done a lot for me,” she says of the non-profit. “When you teach you learn so much. I’ve had everybody from people who have never painted to even some professionals take my classes. It’s been a wonderful thing to do.”
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On January 9, 2014 Ms. Lopez’s husband passed away, just a few months after the passing of her mother. Facing the loss of both loved ones was devastating. Though the temptation to withdraw from the world and give up her classes was strong, she knew that the best thing was to keep going on with her schedule of classes and art events. With strength, determination and the support of her devoted network of friends and students, she was soon back in the classroom painting, though everyone who attended those first workshops felt the heavy absence of her husband.
“My faith helped me a lot,” she shares. “Without it I don’t know where I would have been. Losing John just came so suddenly. It’s really hard without him — half of me is gone. Right after he passed that little voice inside of me said, You have to keep going. I was thinking about my students, people around me, friends. I wanted to keep moving forward — and that’s what John would have wanted me to do anyway. I can hear his voice telling me to keep doing what I was meant to do.”
Throughout this past year Ms. Lopez has been grateful for her teaching as she heals. “It inspired me to keep painting,” she confides. “It forced me to be with friends and students. It pushed me to be out there and keep going. It makes you stronger, and that’s what I’m trying to focus on.”
Though at times it has been a challenge to paint, Ms. Lopez waits for the creativity to return. “I’ve always loved to paint and teach,” she tells me. “Painting is my passion, it’s my life. When I
don’t do it I feel that void. Painting feeds and inspires.”
Recently she was gifted by a student and his wife with a ticket to Hawaii and also spent
some time in Los Angeles with Family. The flowers and life of the island, and the Missions of California have been inspiring her recent works. “It has been very healing,” she says. “My goal is to get better, to keep growing, to keep helping others as much as I can. It’s the love and the passion that drives me, and also John’s memory. He’s on my mind constantly.”
The Sedona Art Center held a celebration of life for Ms. Lopez’s husband, and Jay and Sheri Young set up a special scholarship fund in his memory and every donation to the scholarship fund is matched. “They called it The Gretchen Lopez Scholarship Fund,” she explains. “We’re trying to use it as outreach for people who have the passion to paint but they can’t afford classes.” Ms. Lopez, who is of Hispanic and Chumash descent hopes that the scholarship will aid other painters of Hispanic and Native American backgrounds.
Ms. Lopez is looking forward to her upcoming Art events. At the time of our interview she is preparing to paint at the Sedona Wine Festival on September 26, a pre-cursor to the Sedona Plein Air Festival at the Sedona Art Center, 15 Art Barn Rd. Ms. Lopez will be teaching and painting with a costumed model in the Saloon setting and out on the street for the Paint Out on Main Street event of Saturday, October 17, 1:30PM-4PM (both events open to public). Paintings will also be on display in the SEG and Theater Galleries along with other featured painters. An opening reception will take place immediately following the Paint Out from 4:30PM to 7PM. All weekend painters will participate in plein air painting workshops and sessions to prepare for the Speakeasy Show on Monday, October 19, 4PM-5PM, there will be a Special Patron’s Speakeasy Preview, followed by Happy Hour Casino Night at the Speakeasy from 5PM-8PM (ticketed event). On Wednesday, October 21, 6PM-8PM is the Final Happy Hour Reception (open to public) with Speakeasy Awards. The Speakeasy setting has the feel of a jazzy nightclub as painters paint with live models in the fashion of greats like Lautrec, Manet, Degas, and Sargent.
To make a donation to the Gretchen Lopez Scholarship fund, to find more information on how to apply be a recipient or for more information on upcoming events contact Sedona Arts Center. Sedonaartscenter.org 928/282-3809
| Clair Anna Rose likes to get out and breath the plein air. editor@thenoise.us