Jacalyn Lopez Garcia

Born and raised by my mother Sarah Quiroz Laborin, a Yaqui energy healer, is what greatly shaped my desire to embrace my cultural heritage and pass along her teachings. My father, Henry Lee Lopez, a self-made artist of Tano Indian heritage, was also very influential in helping me develop my own creative voice.  So, as an artist and Universal Life Force energy healer, I have always felt blessed and grateful for each phase of my life that lead me to make new discoveries about applying cultural/spiritual traditions and rituals to my artistic canvases. 

It is my belief, that because of my life experiences I have explored common themes based on the complexities of cultural identity issues, gender roles/sexuality and generational traumas. In particular, this is what fuels my desire to heal the mind/body/spirit through the art of storytelling and as a practicing ULF Mexica Tepati.  Tepati is the Nahuatl name for energy healer/medicine woman. 

By combining B.A. and M.F.A. degrees from UC Riverside and Claremont Graduate University (respectively), with my life training, I have enjoyed a successful career as an artist, community college arts educator, and energy healer.  It gives me tremendous pride to share that I have earned critical acclaim and recognition at local, national and international art venues including the California Museum of Photography; Hispanic Research Center of Arizona State University at Tempe; Palace of Fine Arts (Bellas Artes de Mexico; the European Arts Festival, Osnabruck, Germany; among others. Many of my artworks have been included in publications such as The Multimedia Works of Contemporary Latin American Women Writers and Artists released this past August 2023 by Dr. Jane Elizabeth Lavery.  Others also include Gary Keller’s Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art from 2001, and, in his equally important Chicano Art for Our Millennium from 2004. 

As a transmedia visual storyteller, the impetus for my artwork continues to focus on integrating traditional and non-traditional media to create reflections of the past while exploring new understandings of the present.  My fascination with the role photography, computer art, music, poetry, storytelling and video serve as catalysts of memory is what inspires me to conjure up a variety of social and cultural contexts in my interactive websites, installations, live sound performances, photography and videos.  When I am not making art, I work steadily at promoting Goldie’s Farm Artist Retreat and Spiritual Healing Center in Salton City (goldiesfarm.com), tepatihealingherbs.com, and I enjoy spending time with husband and my family engaging in outdoor activities that connect me/us with our Great Mother Earth, Father Sky, and the elements that surround us.

GLORIA LOPEZ