Featured Artist | August 2025

Jean Lopez

“Riding the wave to the Beloved.” – Laurie Doctor

Beside the Birch © Jean Lopez

Tell us about your practice as a maker.

Essentially, my practice is a commitment to keep showing up, to enter my “maker space” each day, in some way. My literal studio space, yes, but also in how I greet and enter life each day: Where, and how, do I offer beauty, gesture, texture, depth, and delight? In terms of the work I do in my studio, my inclination is to just jump in and start doing something. Over time, however, I have found this never works as well as when I first do the preparatory exercises Laurie incorporates in her workshops: physical exercises of breathing, balancing and stretching, the reading of a poem, and “writing, writing, writing.” Taking time for this initial practice is very effective in opening the channel for whatever wants to come, to come.

I’ve Been Trying to Reach You © Jean Lopez

Where do you thrive? Where do you struggle?

I thrive most in having stretches of time for exploring and experimenting, for playing around with no agenda or preconceived notion of what will emerge. Laurie’s workshops consistently offer this opportunity. The struggle point in my making almost always comes in the middle of a piece I have decided is worth taking further. It’s the point where intuition wants to partner with the more conscious decision-making efforts of my mind, the point where the “new” wants to emerge beyond what is already known and is struggling to show its face. When this happens, I pause and put myself in the middle of the place where I am stuck and listen for the Beloved to reveal the next move.

Who/what influences you?

The bold gestures of Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler have intrigued and energized me since I was a teenager. In more recent years I have been drawn to the rich textures of Anselm Kiefer, along with the depth of
his thought and life experience. I’m also touched and influenced by the beauty of the natural world, the kindness of strangers and the Light in their eyes. These things call to the Light in me that wants to be made manifest in a way that draws others to it.

What is one intention you have for your practice this year?

My intention for this year is consistent with all years: to reflect the luminous Sacred inherent in all. Or, as our Teacher might say, to ride that wave to the Beloved.