One of textile artist dani lopez’s bios tells part of her story: “After spending most of her life living in Oregon and trying to get out, she now lives in Oakland.” 

“Out,” in this case, means both “out of the repressive atmosphere of the place she was living,” and “out as a queer woman.”

Her exhibition of tapestries and other pieces at the Richmond Art Center (RAC), “3 Dykes Walk into a Bar,” addresses parts of her experience as it follows three young dykes coming of age in the 1990s and follows their journeys to the present. Three characters are represented, according to lopez’s description: a sad, Goth girl; a trickster; and what she calls “a vengeful harpy.”

“I began building this work in 2019,” lopez said in a phone interview. “I was reimagining my queer youth, about little dani if she could have come out earlier.” The characters function as chosen family and aren’t cliches, lopez said. But they are archetypes. She found Anna Bogutskaya’s 2023 book, Unlikeable Female Characters: Flawed Female Characters and the Power They Hold, influential. The book examines archetypes such as The Bitch, The Psycho, The Slut and The Trainwreck.

The “Untitled Film Stills” of photographer Cindy Sherman, created from 1977-1980, were another influence. In the black-and-white photos, Sherman posed herself in a variety of stereotypical female movie roles from the 1950s and ’60s, such as Office Girl, Bombshell, Girl on the Run and Housewife.

“They capture intimate vignettes,” lopez said.

To a degree, the  exhibition’s story is also framed around Alice in Wonderland, according to lopez. “[It’s] a starting point because it takes you down a deep, drug-induced exploration of space, time and physical surroundings,” she wrote in her own description of the work. “This story, or these stories, unfold in a non-linear way that is often the experience of queer folks growing up.” The grinning Cheshire Cat makes an appearance. In one triptych, Where did it all go wrong, lopez depicts herself with flowing locks and a white Peter Pan collar, a la Alice, but at the same time pushing up her seemingly oversized black glasses.

The tapestries share the gallery with sculptural elements, often containing found objects. RAC materials describe the overall exhibition as “[a] space where fragments of queer memory, identity, and joy come together to tell a collective story.”

Lopez teaches tapestry-weaving classes at the RAC, and spoke about mastering the ancient art. In her case, rather than using what tapestry artists call a “cartoon,” pinned beneath the work as the image is created, she uses projected photos. Multiple strands of yarn are used to create the image, in the classic warp-and-weft method. “It takes a month to four months to create a work,” she said.

Lopez enjoys seeing all the works displayed together in the RAC’s smaller South Gallery, and hopes that viewers can relate to the stories being told in it, and find it compelling.

Asked about the role of weaving art in the bigger art picture, she noted that even today there is a gender gap. “Works created by men are heralded in a way that isn’t comparable to women,” she said. “But that is changing.”

“3 Dykes Walk into a Bar” is only the beginning of what lopez sees as a long-term exploration. “If it’s a book, I’m only on Chapter Two,” she said.

On Saturday, Feb. 28, at 2pm, lopez will join Elena Gross, director of exhibitions and public programs at the GLBT Historical Society, at the RAC for a free artist’s talk about the exhibition.

‘3 Dykes Walk into a Bar,’ through March 14, Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. Free. Wed-Sat, 10am to 4pm. Artist talk, Feb. 28, 2-3pm. 510.620.6772. danilopez.us, richmondartcenter.org.