Artist John Lopez grew up on a cattle ranch in Lemmon, and despite moving away, he says he always felt an inescapable pull to come back.
Though the community is what Lopez affectionately refers to as a “cow town,” it is both his home and a place where he feels called to encourage others artistically.
“I want people in the area to feel like they have an avenue to pursue art and be seen,” he said.
Lopez found his roots after a high school guidance counselor suggested he go to school for commercial art. At Northern State University, he registered for Sculpture 101.
“I fell in love with sculpture and started pursuing a career in it after that,” he recalled.
After graduation, Lopez worked under Dale Lamphere— the artist behind Dignity of Earth and Sky and Arc of Dreams—and Tony “T.R.” Chytka in the Black Hills.
“After working for them for a couple years, I broke off on my own and started making little tabletop-sized bronze sculptures and trying to sell them,” he said.
OF NOTE:
Lopez serves on the Lemmon Chamber of Commerce, working to get involved in the community, revitalizing, and bringing tourism into town.
Shortly after, the budding sculptor was hired to create several U.S. presidents for the City of Presidents project in Rapid City. Lopez completed 12 life-sized presidents, including John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Theodore Roosevelt.
When Lopez’s aunt Effie passed away in a car accident, the artist moved to her husband’s ranch in Cherry Creek and began to pursue scrap metal sculpting while building a cemetery for her burial.
“I did a few things for the cemetery made out of scrap metal they had lying around, and it opened up a whole new direction for my work,” he reflected.
Getting a taste for the materials, Lopez started to pursue different concepts with the new style, saying it “exploded from there.”
After four years in Cherry Creek, the artist felt the pull to move back to Lemmon, where his parents were retiring.
“While I was there I started seeing these buildings on Main Street, and the city offered to give me one of these buildings if I fixed it up and turned it into my art studio,” he said.
Lopez took the Kokomo, which used to be a local bar, and put in new electricity, walls, and sheet rock, turning it into a gallery and studio.
He didn’t stop there, tearing into some abandoned buildings next to it and turning them into a revitalization project that is still ongoing.
The Kokomo Gallery opened in 2017, flanked by a sculpture garden to the south and the Boss Cowman Square on the north face.
Inside the gallery you’ll find works like The Last Stand, a hybrid metal sculpture of two bison in a showdown.
Cast in bronze on each bison’s shoulder are busts of General Custer and Sitting Bull.
Lopez says the sculpture pays homage to both historical figures, as Custer came through the Lemmon area on his way to the Black Hills, and Sitting Bull grew up only an hour away from the city.
The sculpture gallery contains other works, including Wolf, an ode to Northern State University’s mascot, and The Tree of Life, a cherry tree sculpture that incorporates blossoms done by artists from around the world, made possible by social media.
BOTTOMS UP
The Kokomo used to be a 3.2 bar, a place where 3.2% alcohol was served and many in the area had their first beer.
“[The Kokomo] is a very educational type of place where kids can learn about art and how to be a professional artist.”
– John Lopez
“I want to help other Artists in any way I can.”
-John Lopez
In the Boss Cowman Square sits a larger than life sculpture of Ed Lemmon, the city’s founder, on a horse. Lemmon’s horse is made of donated scrap metal, while the founder himself sits comfortably cast in bronze.
Incorporated into the sculpture are personal items from the community, including a revolver and a jack knife, donated in honor of Alvin Jacobs, a cowboy who inspired Lopez.
Surrounding the gallery, square, and sculpture garden are a series of murals hand-painted by Dotun Popoola and Jonathan Imafidor, Lopez’s friends from Nigeria.
“They used to come and visit and wanted to learn how to do scrap metal sculpting, so I would have them do a mural for me while they were there, and now they’re famous scrap metal sculptors in Nigeria,” explained Lopez.
“I like the fact they could come and leave their mark here, and our community could learn from them and their culture,” he added.
Always working on new pieces, Lopez is unveiling a sculpture in Fort Pierre this summer, and another in Watford City, ND, sometime in 2025.
Before he transports pieces to install, Lopez will often show them at the gallery.
“There’s always something new being shown or something new going on,” he said.
STAY IN TOUCH
Follow John on Instagram at @johnlopezstudio
For Lopez, his work and gallery are all about community, wanting the gallery to be a place where locals can be introduced to the rich culture of artistry.
“It’s a celebration of art, culture, and art education,” he said. “It’s an outlet for anybody that has artistic, creative vision.”
In addition to being a community space, the gallery has also been a familial one, fostering a special relationship between Lopez and his mother.
In the spring, summer, and fall Lopez’s mother, Elizabeth, greets people and runs the shop from 10 in the morning to three in the afternoon.
“She gets so much joy from working at the gallery and meeting people,” said Lopez. “It’s really been a blessing in that way, that I could spend time with my parents at home.”
Under it all, Lopez says his family and the ranching culture is the “heart and soul” of what inspires him.
“Any time I’ve tried moving away from home, I just feel the call to move back,” he said. “South Dakota’s just kind of in my blood.”
