Weitzman’s Michelle Lopez Awarded 2024 Pew Fellowship in the Arts

Artist Michelle Lopez, associate professor of fine arts at Weitzman, has been awarded one of 12 Pew Fellowships in the Arts by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in Philadelphia.

Pew announced $10.2 million awarded this year through 39 grants to Philadelphia-area cultural institutions and artists.

The Pew Fellowship in the Arts program supports regional artistic talent through 12 annual grants. Each artist receives $85,000 in unrestricted funds, as well as professional-advancement resources such as financial counseling, workshops, and opportunities to participate in artist residency programs. 

Lopez, associate professor of fine arts, creates immersive, large-scale installations from industrial materials and debris like glass, wood, steel rope, and street rubble. Influenced by her own cultural experiences, her research-driven work explores cultural phenomena and draws from the aesthetic languages and histories of industrialization, art movements and from the built environment. A 2019 exhibition at Penn’s Institute of Contemporary Art featured the installation Ballast & Barricades. Lopez says, “As a maker, I believe the manipulation of objects and space is a wondrous alchemy, one that can transform perception.”

Lopez is one of two Penn faculty members to receive a Pew Fellowship in the Art, along with musician and composer Tyshawn Sorey, Presidential Assistant Professor of Music in the School of Arts & Sciences. In addition, two Penn faculty are each involved with a project that received creative project grants.

Read the fully story on Penn Today.