Kandy G Lopez’s powerful and stylish fiber portraits reflect a painter’s eye for detail.
In fiber, stained glass, and oil portraits, Lopez captures the personalities and style of people of color. The Afro-Caribbean artist, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and teaches art and design at Nova Southeastern University, creates expressionistic portraits in thread and yarn on larger-than-life plastic mesh canvases, depicting her subjects’ highly detailed eyes, vivid clothing, and confident poses. Loose threads dangle off the canvases, as if the subjects might dance or wander off into the room. Though she has only been focusing on craft art since 2021, her work is powerful and self-possessed, demonstrating a strong sense of color theory and a painter’s eye for detail. Lopez wrote about her daily creative rituals—and the M&M’s and Bustelo coffee that fuel them—in “Rituals of Making” in the Spring 2024 issue of American Craft.
How do you describe your work or practice in 50 words or less?
As an Afro-Caribbean visual artist, I’m eager to be challenged materially and metaphorically when representing marginalized individuals who inspire and move me. My works are created out of the necessity to learn something new about my people and culture. I’m interested in developing a nostalgic dialogue between the artwork and the viewer.
Kandy Lopez working on a portrait.
