“Preservation Artist” Alex Lopez Illustrates Your Neighborhood

by BQE Admin · June 3, 2026

Alex Lopez at Kew Gardens Art Market, 2026

By Michael Perlman

Immerse yourself in the creative world of the exceptionally unique artist Alex Lopez, a 38-year-old Kew Gardens woman, who is a wife, mother, and elementary school teacher, whose community becomes her campus. She is on a mission to preserve the architectural and cultural spirit of landmark-quality Forest Hills Gardens Tudor homes and local small business cornerstones, which anchor past and current generations to future ones and commemorate local character through her watercolors and ink and colored pencil illustrations. Her style is largely contemporary folk illustration. As she portrays “quiet visual stories,” she is undeniably a dynamo who exemplifies the Queens arts scene, where the power of an idyllic community is at her fingertips.

“Creating art has become a way to preserve the places and moments that make a community feel like home. As a full-time teacher and a mom, I create whenever I can, weaving creativity into the rhythm of family life, work, and community,” said Lopez, who finds inspiration through her neighborhood walks, local architecture, and daily beauty. When asked if she would be open to featuring her historical façade illustrations in applications for landmark status and the State & National Register of Historic Places, she replied, “Absolutely!”

“Art symbolizes a slowdown in the midst of a fast-paced life. It makes us stop and take in purpose and feeling at the same time,” said Lopez. “The process of creating by carefully drawing every brick by hand and paying attention to the tiniest detail, shadow, and angle requires a level of patience and focus that allows my mind to slow down and reset. In many ways, the repetitive and intentional nature of my work becomes a form of meditation.”

Each Queens community offers a distinct sense of place, but is harmoniously and historically related. The symbolism blossoms through Lopez’s art. Kew Gardens, Forest Hills Gardens, and Richmond Hill are a trifecta that she proudly calls home. “They all have similarities in that many of the houses are well preserved and loved by the people who reside in them, and each drawing brings me back to a different point in my life. It’s been rewarding to commemorate them because I hope when people see them, whether they live in these areas or not, it brings a positive or nostalgic feeling, which I hope continues to boost the value in these neighborhoods.”

The Jewelers 2026 ink on paper by Alex Lopez

Lopez explained the behind-the-scenes characteristics of her artwork, stemming from a series of familiarity and appreciation. She feels as if she knows the neighborhood like the back of her hand. As a teenager, she would stroll from Richmond Hill High School to her home and back, which inspired her admiration of Richmond Hill’s historic Victorian homes. Her passion continued as an adult, when she returned to her starting point and aimed to memorialize some of the existing houses, which could tell intricate stories of their own.

She explained, “Then I moved on to houses in Kew Gardens that mostly lie on the Kew Gardens/Richmond Hill border, where some beautiful homes haven’t changed since my childhood. As I’m drawing, it’s interesting to notice the weathering of the wood, or the little details in the shutters of these homes, which I never noticed. Drawing makes you sit for a while and pay close attention to the tiny details that we may take for granted. Eventually, I moved on to Forest Hills Gardens, a community in which I have never actually lived, but can say I have major roots in. I attended elementary school in Forest Hills, and our walking commute to and from Kew Gardens always included the best streets of Forest Hills Gardens. I spent my entire adolescence babysitting for six different families in Forest Hills Gardens, and went sledding in Olivia Park as a kid.” It became her goal to include some of those homes, especially the Tudors in her series, and she finds her line quality improving upon each occasion to illustrate their distinctively bold details.

Lopez’s current phase of artwork is living in exploration of local small businesses that withstood the test of time or evolved. “As so many beloved local businesses come and go, I became increasingly inspired to preserve the places that have stood alongside our community for generations. With detailed black-and-white ink illustrations, I want to create a sense of permanence, honoring these spaces and keeping their stories alive in a lasting way. In the future, I hope that I can move ahead to different neighborhoods, depending on the places that touch my heart the most.”

Lopez’s magnitude-spirited art is produced in a little corner of her apartment, which is filled with photos of her children, her favorite pens, and a wooden dollhouse undergoing restoration between drawings. This year, she completed 12 ink drawings featuring community spaces. For the past two years, she also worked on mural and painting projects for NYC public schools. She explained, “My favorite standout mural was a sunflower and butterfly painting I did for a Bushwick elementary school library. Over the last two years, I completed around 30 works based in architecture and whimsical illustration. My ‘Forest Hills Gardens’ piece, ink on paper, is one of my recent standout pieces, and is an 8 x 8-inch drawing composed of strategically placed houses from the neighborhood in a grid formation. Each house measures about 2 x 2 inches. I also have a drawing of the Church-in-the-Gardens, my childhood church, in my collection.”

The Chicken House, Richmond Hill by Alex Lopez

Inspirational stories surface while Lopez produces and shares her creative works. Her first house drawing, which she named “The Chicken House” in Richmond Hill, was produced in 2024. She reminisced, “When my daughter was little, the house had a chicken coop and free-range chickens happily roaming the backyard, which gave my daughter delight on our neighborhood walks. One of those days, we had the privilege of meeting the owner’s husband, Ivan Mrakovcic, who invited us to pet the chickens and go home with a few eggs. It was such a wholesome and community-oriented moment that I never want to forget. His house will always remind me of the kindness of people. Unfortunately, he passed on, but I gifted a print of my drawing to his family.”

Regarding commemorating destinations in black and white, she received feedback that her works offer a refreshing visual experience on social media feeds. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know the business owners of these spaces better and building my own sense of community. My favorite part of connecting with the owners of the homes is showing the drawing to them while trick-or-treating with my kids on Halloween,” said Lopez.

Her artwork is met with an engaging eye in galleries around town. Exhibitions included Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, Greenpoint Gallery, One Art Space in Tribeca as part of the WorkWell NYC Employee Artist Showcase, The Center at Maple Grove Cemetery, Flushing Town Hall for “Comics in the City: Sequential Art Is…,” Neighborly Events in Kew Gardens, and most recently, Yant Art Space in Forest Hills. The first edition newsletter by Forest Hills Community Building also spotlighted her work. Lopez regards every exhibition that accepted her as a superb award, based on gaining recognition for her artwork. “The real prize is completing something that I would want to display in my home,” she said.

Lopez is a humanitarian, which particularly materializes as an artist. In 2023, she produced an illustration titled “Kew Gardens,” which consolidates her favorite symbolic images on paper. “After much positive feedback from my community, I decided to have it printed on canvas tote bags that I’ve donated to our Kew Gardens public school for raffle prizes as a fundraiser,” she said. Additionally, Kew Gardens’ bookstore, Kew and Willow, is dear to her heart. “Besides supporting the business through my book purchases, I began selling tote bags of my ‘Kew Gardens’ illustration that the area loves. I’m hoping that by promoting the sale of the totes, it continues to bring business to the cutest little bookshop in the five boroughs,” she continued.

As an undergraduate, she earned a degree in English from Hunter College, followed by a Master’s in Education from City College. “My favorite part of being an elementary teacher is that my creativity has a sense of freedom and outlet, whether it be creating posters and educational charts for my students, or coming up with a fun craft to accompany our current unit of study. My students are really excited once they learn that I know how to draw,” said Lopez. As she impacts students through art, it reciprocally offers inspiration. “I hope that by sharing that their teacher has a passion for drawing and creating art outside of school, it inspires them to believe that their talents and passions don’t have to take a backburner to their professional careers. Creativity can always remain an important part of adulthood, even as you balance work, family, and responsibility,” she continued.

Eddie’s Sweet Shop 2026 ink on paper by Alex Lopez

Lopez has been embarking upon an artistic journey since childhood by predominantly exploring acrylic paint and pencil. In high school, she realized that her work was valued, as her art teacher, Ms. Marti-Munoz, encouraged her participation in art contests hosted by the Police Athletic League. That was when she sold her first painting to the organization’s president. “As an adult, I continued experimenting with different mediums, but it wasn’t until 2020, when we were all spending time at home, that I wanted to try drawing with a pen, and not use pencil at all. It was the thrill and challenge of not being able to fix my mistakes that made me want to continue using the pen, resulting in a better mastery of line control and depth.”

Actually, Lopez’s connection to the arts originated at birth. Her father, Paul Anthony Melhado, a painter and photographer, filled their home with creativity. She reminisced, “There were always paintbrushes, canvases, and the familiar ritual of darkroom development nights. Art was never treated as something distant or reserved for professionals, but woven into everyday life. From a very young age, my father immersed me in the artistic world around us. He never believed I was ‘too young’ to experience art, and he took me to museums and galleries throughout New York City regularly. Some of my earliest memories are of wandering through those spaces beside him, learning to look closely and appreciate the power of visual storytelling.”

At age six, her father set up an easel in her bedroom, along with a stretched canvas, acrylic paints, and a magazine clipping of a Picasso painting for her to recreate. She recalled, “In that moment, he gave me something far greater than an art lesson: confidence in my ability to create. As I grew older, his encouragement never faded. As a teenager, he enrolled me in classes at The Art Students League of New York, continuing to nurture my love for drawing and illustration. Most importantly, throughout my life he modeled what it means to fully commit to art and family. While working full-time and often multiple jobs, he still dedicated himself to ambitious photography projects, including a series documenting all Queens County parks, many times with me by his side.” By observing his balance of creativity, work, and parenthood, she learned a most valuable life lesson, proving that all is attainable.

Her father’s work was exhibited in numerous venues, including the Queens Museum, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens College. “Beyond those accomplishments, his greatest influence was showing me that an artistic life could exist alongside responsibility, dedication, and family. The artist, teacher, and mother I am today is deeply rooted in the example he set for me,” said Lopez.

“Create all the time, since your creativity does not have to exist separately from school, work, or family responsibilities,” said Lopez, offering advice to younger generations. “Some of my best work hasn’t come from being perfect, but the practice and persistence that led up to it. Pay attention to the world around you. The beauty in life comes from the ordinary, like the hundred-year-old house or a bicycle shop that’s been in your neighborhood since the 1960s. While it may take a lot of time and patience to develop a career in art, it is possible to build that little niche with or without an additional profession. A quote my dad loves to share when I’m stuck wondering if my art will grow into something bigger is ‘Remember, it’s a marathon, not a race.’”

Lopez aspires to build a lasting collection of work that preserves community spaces, local history, and personal memories through illustration. “A project I would love to attain is working on compiling these portraits of community places into a book; perhaps intertwining the three communities that have such a connection to me and others in my community,” she said.

Lopez’s current pursuits include commission requests from residents to draw their houses or people in their circle of family or friends, which becomes a memorable gift. This summer, she will produce prints of local businesses. She envisions selling on Kew Gardens Arts Day, and announcements will be posted on her Instagram page, @ilexilopez