dani lopez is a textiles artist working within weaving and fiber sculpture to explore queer desire, femininity, and femme identity. She received her MFA in Textiles from California College of the Arts in 2019 and her BFA in Drawing and Painting from the University of Oregon in 2016. Weaving at the loom, sewing, and embroidery act as a portal site to reimagine her closeted queer youth into an out loud one. The physical, time-intensive processes are where she examines regret and the works that emerge are an act of reimagining and redemption. She is currently a studio artist at Root Division in San Francisco. Lopez has shown at Minnesota Street Project, Tropical Contemporary, Amos Eno Gallery, and the Frank Ratchye Project Space at Root Division. After spending most of her life living in Oregon and trying to get out, she now lives in Oakland, California with her Maine Coon mix cat, Trent.
I make textile works that tell femme-centric stories. These weavings, fiber sculptures, and embroidered works are at times a stand-in for a body or character, and other times the residue of heartbreak or a hook-up gone awry. These works are referencing queer histories and cultures and they are speaking to queer womxn. I cite camp, queer theory, and coming of age narratives to recreate my own closeted queer youth.