Senora Lopez

The Works of Kathy Sosa
Kathy Sosa moved to San Antonio from Alabama as a child and immediately fell in love with the blended culture of the Texas-Mexico border region. After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at St. Mary’s University, she spent years in advertising and political consulting. Kathy began her life as a painter during her late 40’s and embraced the artistic expressions of the Mestisaje culture. Her work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Latino Center in Washington D.C. and regionally in Texas; it has also been featured on CNN and in various publications.

“Everything in my body of work is about the Mestizo culture that I live in, and I would like to bring to people’s attention to the very cool things about the blended culture in the Texas-Mexico border land… It’s a distinct culture of its own” ---Kathy Sosa

From the Huipiles Series
The artist makes the point:  “It is important to know these are things (wearing huipiles) that are happening now! Not in the past! The wearers incorporate these cultural garments into their wardrobes…what we do is find beautiful things from our culture, beautiful things that we stumble over and see and …you are wearing it to carry something from the past forward or from the present into another place.” --- Kathy Sosa

Kathy Sosa (American, b. 20^th Century)
Señora Lopez
Oil portrait with collage on board
Signed l.l.
45 ½ x 34 inches

The sitter was responsible for mentoring a whole group of women about the Huipiles (the indigenous embroidered dresses and blouses).  She instructed the group on how to wear the Mexican costume from the various regions and how to accessorize them correctly while providing reasons why. This group of women shared words of her knowledge throughout San Antonio.  The portrait, which hung at the Smithsonian, is a part of the Huipiles Series.