Dreaming the Path
“Dreaming the Path” is a 30-foot-long mosaic mural at Melrose Leadership Academy, a Spanish immersion elementary school in Oakland. The work was done by Juan Lopez, a mosaic artist who moved from Sante Fe to San Francisco, and who for more than 25 years has turned hard fragments of tile and glass into fluid images depicting the natural world.
Meet the Creator
“Juan Lopez is a mosaic artist. Piece by piece and with great skill, he turns hard fragments of tile and glass into fluid images. Walls and other hard surfaces that he works are transformed by his original designs—often images of the natural world—and become animated, imbued with life.
For 25 years, Juan owned a small tile and installation business in Santa Fe. Over time, he mastered the art of working with ceramic, glass, marble, limestone, and granite. His broad portfolio includes: tiled rooms at the high-profile Ten Thousand Waves spa, a quartzite-slab pool deck at home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and custom designs for private dwellings throughout northern New Mexico.
Now living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area, Juan is reshaping his craft to manifest his love for mosaic design and community development. His commissioned work includes murals at local schools and public installations. His iconic trash cans in Oakland are urban examples of artistic activism. By making these mundane objects extraordinary with his unique representations of wildlife, he supports neighborhood and community transformation.”
For 25 years, Juan owned a small tile and installation business in Santa Fe. Over time, he mastered the art of working with ceramic, glass, marble, limestone, and granite. His broad portfolio includes: tiled rooms at the high-profile Ten Thousand Waves spa, a quartzite-slab pool deck at home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and custom designs for private dwellings throughout northern New Mexico.
Now living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area, Juan is reshaping his craft to manifest his love for mosaic design and community development. His commissioned work includes murals at local schools and public installations. His iconic trash cans in Oakland are urban examples of artistic activism. By making these mundane objects extraordinary with his unique representations of wildlife, he supports neighborhood and community transformation.”
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