ART + DESIGN
Shortly after, the budding sculptor was hired to create several U.S. presidents for the City of Presidents project in Rapid City. Lopez completed 12 life-sized presidents, including John F. Kennedy , Jimmy Carter , and Theodore Roosevelt . When Lopez’s aunt Effie passed away in a car accident, the artist moved to her husband's ranch in Cherry Creek and began to pursue scrap metal sculpting while building a cemetery for her burial. “I did a few things for the cemetery made out of scrap metal they had lying around, and it opened up a whole new direction for my work,” he reflected. Getting a taste for the materials, Lopez started to pursue different concepts with the new style, saying it “exploded from there.” After four years in Cherry Creek, the artist felt the pull to move back to Lemmon, where his parents were retiring. “While I was there I started seeing these buildings on Main Street, and the city offered to give me one of these buildings if I fixed it up and turned it into my art studio,” he said. Lopez serves on the Lemmon Chamber of Commerce , working to get involved in the community, revitalizing, and bringing tourism into town. Of Note:
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