School of Art Associate Professor and Ceramicist Named 2024 USA Fellow

Photo by Meredith Mashburn

Linda Nguyen Lopez

The United States Artists recently announced the 2024 USA Fellows, a class of 50 awardees encompassing both artists and collectives from 10 creative disciplines. Among those selected, Linda Nguyen Lopez, associate professor in the School of Art, program director of foundations and a ceramicist, was named one of the newest USA Fellows in Craft.

Lopez will receive $50,000 unrestricted cash awards, honoring her rich contributions to the cultural fabric of the country. 

Lopez is a first-generation American artist of Vietnamese and Mexican descent. Her abstract works explore the poetic potential of the everyday by imagining and articulating a vast emotional range embedded in the mundane objects that surround us.

“With verbal meaning so imprecise and mutable, visual language became my way of expressing the world,” Lopez said. “Clay, whose malleability allows me to create objects that appear soft and playful, has allowed for endless possibilities.”

Representing a broad diversity of regions and media, the USA Fellows are awarded through a peer-led selection process in the disciplines of architecture and design, craft, dance, film, media, music, theater and performance, traditional arts, visual art and writing.

“As ceramic artist, Lopez’s work has made significant contributions to contemporary understandings of craft and the broader visual arts landscape in the United States,” said Christopher Schulte, interim director of the School of Art and endowed professor of art education. “This award not only serves as an acknowledgement of Lopez’s personal influence as an artist, it also underscores the quality and reach of our faculty.”

This year’s fellows are based across 22 states and Puerto Rico, and range in age from artists in their 20s to their 80s. They include emerging artists as well as artists with extensive careers in their fields, underscoring the significance of intergenerational dialogues and support at all states of the artists’ careers.

ARKANSAS CONNECTIONS

This year, notably, also marks the first time USA is awarding two Arkansas-based artists, Lopez and theater director Kholoud Sawaf, who is a Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences alumna.

USA Fellows are selected based on their groundbreaking artistic visions, unique perspectives within their fields and evident potential for the award to make a significant impact in their practice and lives. 

“Studio art program area is honored to have Linda (Lopez) as a colleague,” said Jeannie Hulen, studio art program director and professor of art. “She is one of the most lauded artists in the field of ceramics, both nationally and internationally, and her dedication to teaching, research and service is of the very highest caliber.”

MORE ABOUT LINDA NGUYEN LOPEZ

Lopez holds a B.A. and B.F.A. from California State University of Chico and an M.F.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her works are included in the permanent collections of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Carnegie Museum, the Fuller Craft Museum, the Springfield Art Museum, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute and other public and private collections.

Her work has been exhibited in Italy, New Zealand, England and throughout the United States including the Craft Contemporary Museum, the Long Beach Museum of Art, David B. Smith Gallery, Mindy Solomon Gallery and the Museum of Art and Design.

Lopez joined the former Department of Art, now School of Art, in 2012. She has served in a variety of leadership roles within the school over the past 11 years and has been instrumental in building the ceramics program at the U of A.

She currently serves as program director of foundations, the first-year experience for art education, graphic design and studio art majors at the School of Art. She leads foundations faculty as they work with students to build strong connections with their peers, develop effective work habits and learn to ask complex questions, in addition to being exposed to the full range of formal art and design principals.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.