@dus10lopez
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Registered: 4 years, 8 months ago
Phoenix-based artist-designer and firefighter, Dustin Lopez has a way of dissecting his identity as a inter-tribal native (Yaqui-Laguna Pueblo-Navajo) and connecting it with people from all walks of life. With a passion for storytelling in his veins from an early age, Lopez's work has been featured in galleries and museums in central Arizona. "Ever since I could hold onto a pencil I was drawing on just about everything. But in 4th grade when my friend, John Hoop, arrived fresh from Las Vegas and showed me graffiti I was instantly seducted by what you can achieve with letters. Since that moment I started working on letters and eventually becoming a letterer/graphic designer," Lopez explains. Other influences include street artists, muralists and graffiti artists across the world. "My ancestors have been writing on walls from the beginning and I often think they would be proud of what I put on today's walls that offer balance, harmony, movement, excitement, inspiration and hope." Recently, Lopez created an illustration for the Missing and Murdered Women in attempt to raise awareness on the alarming topic. That illustration received accolades that landed him in the Museum of Indigenous People located in central Arizona. The artwork will be displayed until June of 2020. Despite the recent recognition for his work, Lopez remains humble, sarcastic and tries his best enjoy the small moments in life, especially on the rez; teaching his oldest to drive, family gatherings and ceremonies, continually educating himself on arts and crafts, taking grandma to the flea market and disputing why she should buy another shiny toy with her 'allowance', "it's in those moments I am inspired by who I am, where I come from, what I represent, what it means to be in this clan or that clan. It's a strange thing, inspiration. Once I harness those moments it organically comes out in my work, but it's hidden in ways that only my family and friends can understand, sometimes it's for them specifically." Lopez will be coming out with his teeshirt line, 'Mixt Blood'. A streetwear teeshirt brand that colaborates with other intertribal natives by stenghtening their idetity through artwork. Lopez will also remain working as a Firefighter and substitute Art Teacher at a local charter school where he indulges on their young creative minds, assisting them in channeling their identity and becoming the liaison for Native parents/students. His 8th grade students will unveil their first mural in April of 2020 and a skateboard gallery featuring his students in attempts to raise money for the school. Lastly, Lopez will be featured in 'Tis Gallery (Prescott, AZ) in an all Native American artist gallery, from May-June 2020.
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