By Sabrina Arpa
THE first one woman show of visual artist and actress Maria Isabel Lopez opened recently at the Passion Arts Gallery in SM Megamall. The visit to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage site in Ravenna, Italy, in 2015 became the catalyst to her first woman show, Body & Soul. The exhibit, glorifying the female anatomy and the forces behind it, is a fusion of modern mosaic art, offering an exceptional experience with the intricate titivation of textures. Images are brought to life by the play of light over the mosaic texture, the reflection resulting in mosaic art within a painting that encompasses hues, movement and magic.
The event was attended by guests from the political and entertainment worlds as well as beauty queens and models. Among her guests of honor were Sen. Grace Poe, Mayor Christina Diaz of San Mateo, Rizal; Eddie Rocha of Articulo Uno, producer of Heneral Luna; human-rights lawyer Jonathan Melrod; Arlax Malbog from Hawaii; Martin Magsanoc of Archive 1984; and our newly crowned Miss United Continents 2016, Jeslyn Santos.
Spotted were beauty queens Evangeline Pascual, who hosted the program, with musical numbers by Lance Raymond, violinist Edgar Lensherr and soprano Josephine Gomez. A Fine Arts graduate of the University of the Philippines, actress Maria Isabel Lopez worked as a fashion designer, which sparked her interest in the female anatomy with elongated figures.
The early mosaic works of Maria Isabel Lopez indicate a desire to experiment with objects found, such as pebbles, sand mortar and natural stones.
In 2011 she enrolled at the Chicago Mosaic School owned by Italian Matteo Randi, learning mosaic Ravenna style, using Italian smalti from Orsoni, the family credited for reviving the old craft of Byzantine gold-leaf mosaic and the pure smalti of Murano’s renaissance glass mosaic, cutting with the tradional hammer and hardie.
In 2014, while at the Institute of Mosaic Art in Berkeley, California, under Rachel Rodi, Lopez added diversity to her medium by using reflective glass. Since then, she has been fascinated by glass, particularly iridescent and textured Uroboros and Kokomo glass.
That same year saw the opening of the Maria Isabel Lopez Art Studio on 1313 Scheibel Lane in Sebastopol, California, in Sonoma County. The artist is a professional member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists.
The exhibit is on view until November 4. For more information: 634-2422 or www.mariaisabellopez.com.