Angelo Lopez

Cartoons have always been a particular obsession with me. Since I was a kid, I would scrawl Charlie Brown and Snoopy on any scrap of paper that I could find. So I've appreciated the opportunity to do cartoons for the Tri-City Voice, a local newspaper that covers the Fremont, Newark, Union City, Hayward, Sunol, and Milpitas areas of the California Bay Area. You could find my cartoons each week on page 24 under the crossword puzzle. These past few weeks, I've focused on the presidential campaign and the recent financial crisis.

William and Sharon Marshak founded the Tri-City Voice to cover the local art, culture, sports, and entertainment of the eastern Bay Area cities and it promotes the diverse multicultural population and the rich history of the area. With a circulation of 25,750, the newspaper has the largest readership in the 5 cities that it covers. William Marshak's editorials offer insight into the political scene with the city councils and downtown economies.

It's been a year now that I've been in Crossleft, a Progressive Christian site. Why have I stayed? For the most part it's because Crossleft dovetails my two prevailing interests: an interest in liberal and progressive politics and an interest in a more progressive Christianity. I've learned a lot from reading the bloggers in this site. A few years ago I was in a painful church conflict that really shook my faith in God and Christianity. A small part of me though, still wants to believe in God and Jesus, so I've embarked in these past few years to try to figure out what parts of this Christian faith do I still believe. During this time, I found Crossleft. I've always felt that Crossleft has been like a Godsend to me.

In order to better understand why, a little of my history is in order.

Hi folks

I thought I'd post photos from the art reception I hosted last Saturday in Gallery Saratoga for my art show. It was a nice reception. Several friends and family came to look at my work and I made a few sales of my cartoons and paintings. Most of my work that I posted were cartoons that I did for St. Thomas Episcopal Church and the Tri-City Voice. I started doing a series of paintings of heroes of mine, but I didn't get very far. I managed to finish paintings of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Dorothy Day, and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. (which a member of my church purchased). I also did a cartoon version of Howard Zinn and Mark Fidrych (a childhood baseball hero).

The photos include pictures of my art on the wall. My wife and I both had a great time. My brother and sister attended, and I got to spend some time with my new niece Malaya. She was scared of strangers though, and since I haven't really spent much time with her, she kept crying whenever I came near her.

I've been in Gallery Saratoga now for 2 years and it's been a wonderful experience. Gallery Saratoga is a co-op gallery of 25 artists who do wonderful work in painting, photography, jewelry, silk, woodcarving, gourds, and ceramics. If you'd like to know more about my show and Gallery Saratoga, go to www.gallerysaratoga.com.

I hope none of you mind my shameless plug of my art show. I'm having an art show this September and invite any of you in the area to my show.

If any of you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, my show will be in Gallery Saratoga in Saratoga, California, from September 2 to the end of the month. I'll have a reception on Saturday, September 6, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. I'd be happy if you see my show. You could look up my art at http://www.gallerysaratoga.com/artists/Lopez/index.html.

This year I've been doing more ink drawings and cartoons than paintings. My work has been influenced by some classic illustrators: John Tenniel and his work in Lewis Caroll's "Through The Looking Glass"; Garth William's work in "Stuart Little" and "Charlotte's Web"; and Maurice Sendak's work in "Where the Wild Things Are." I've also been influenced by George Herriman (cartoonist of the 1930s comic "Krazy Kat"), Charles Addams (a cartoonist for the New Yorker), and Robert Crumb (an underground cartoonist). A big recent influence has been Fritz Eichenberg, a Quaker woodcut artist for the Catholic Worker, and Kathe Kollwitz, a graphic artist during the 1920s and 1930s. These various artists have influenced me to try to create work with more social commentary and more depth.