Today we’d like to introduce you to Adriana Lopez-Ospina.
Hi Adriana, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am a multidisciplinary artist currently working in fibers and installation work. I think like most artists, I’ve always had the need to create. However, as I was choosing what to do with my life all I ever heard was that artists can’t make a living. So I was slowly convinced to pursue another career path in school. By my senior year in high school, I was sure I would be a doctor, but even as I chose my major at University I decided to double major in pre-med and studio art. Two years in trying to juggle both I decided that pre-med was killing my mental health. All I ever wanted to do was be in the studio, so I decided to stop fighting the urge and focus on art. It wasn’t an easy decision. Both my parents were doctors and as a first-generation Colombian-American, there was a lot of pressure to follow the success that my parents had built for themselves. Even after finishing my degree in Studio Art with an emphasis in Sculpture, my dad would joke that I could always go back to be a doctor. I felt like a failure in his eyes, but I just couldn’t see myself as a physician.
The first year out of school, I worked as an apprentice and production assistant to a potter in Hannibal, Missouri. In my last month at Saint Louis University and my ceramics professor told me about the position. I was curious about rural living and what it was like to be a working artist so I worked for just above Missouri minimum wage ($8.50) for a year. I had my one-bedroom apartment with my cat and wandered the gorgeous forests that the Midwest had to offer. It was an experience to say the least. I learned a lot about rural American and after some time, decided I was not cut out for Midwest winters after having been spoiled by Southern California weather my whole life. I decided to move back to the Coachella Valley/Greater Palm Springs area.
It was at home where I started to question what I wanted my art to be about and what portfolio to build. While my emphasis was in Sculpture and more specifically metalwork. I didn’t have the space or the means to buy a welder and steel or have the space to store work. Instead, I looked at other forms of metal to work with and came across gold leaf. It reminded me of all the times I had visited my family in Colombia and we would go to the Museo del Oro. It has the largest collection of gold artifacts in the world. I decided to do more research into these artifacts and started to produce gold leaf pieces that represented my life and memory as the indigenous people of Colombia did with their gold work. The more I learned about my history and culture the more I felt that this is what I wanted my work to be about. A type of lifelong research into Colombian history and heritage.
I worked in gold leaf for about five years in a series titled “All that Glitters is Fools Gold.” I’ve since moved into fiber work, more specifically wool and natural dyes. The inspiration of working in wool comes from the Wayuu tribe in the Guajira Peninsula which is in the northern desert area of Colombia. As a desert rat myself, I felt that looking at the desert region of Colombia would be fun since I the research into life there would overlap with my own experience in Coachella Valley, California. The Wayuu are famous for the mochilas (bags/backpacks) they weave which mythology tells they learned from the spider Walekerü. I’m enjoying the process of learning about the significance of material, patterns and mythology in various regions of Colombia.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
As I mentioned in my initial story, choosing to be an artist felt like a letdown when confronting my dad. I’ve since moved past that and my parents support my work. Additionally, when I moved back I had a pretty bad health scare that I was terrified would affect my ability to be an artist. I broke my dominant wrist skateboarding in a period where I was on a roll with my art-making and exhibiting. I thought I might not be able to move my hand the same way and was so convinced I would have a bad recovery I started to learn to use my left hand and even did a mural in gold leaf left-handed just to have peace of mind that if my right hand didn’t recover, I could still do my work.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m known mostly for my series “All that Glitters is Fools Gold.” I spent about five years doing abstract figures mixed with patterns. It culminated in solo show titled “Pattern & Peril” in 2022. I’ve now shifted into large scare fiber installations. I have made two pieces, both featured in selected exhibitions. One is titled Discounted & Disconnected and the other Life’s Path. I make the installations with wool woven into metal screens.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
When I moved back, I wasn’t very well connected to the local art scene. I had been away for five years so I was a rocky start. About three years after moving back, making my work and doing exhibitions a friend of mine heard that I did social media work. She told me that she was doing social media for a local studio but didn’t really have experience and thought I would be better for the job. I met with the director and I’ve been working with the studio ever since. It led me to the selected exhibitions I’ve been part of for my new work. Similar social media work also connected me with an art collective that has led to a relationship with the Palm Springs Art Museum for workshops and other curators in the area. It was a skill that I worked on for the potter in Missouri just because I saw he had a need. Now it’s become an awesome conduit to being well-connected to my art community and exhibiting opportunities.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.PuraProjects.com
- Instagram: @puraprojects
- Other: TikTok @puraprojects
Image Credits
All photos were taken by myself or my partner Faisal Alateeg
