Art Emeritus Faculty

J. Tomas Lopez

Professor Emeritus In Art and Art History

J. Tomas Lopez, (Professor Emeritus in the Department of Art and Art History, University of Miami) has degrees in Psychology and Philosophy from Fordham University, MMA in Film and Video and an MFA in Photography and Modernist Theory from the University of South Florida.
He is a photographic artist with of over fifty years of practice. His projects include: AIDS/ARTreach, an infra-red diptych project of people dying of AIDS, an exhibition the traveled around the world; Infra-red underwater photographs of the nude figure are included in many museum and private collections including the George Eastman House, the International Museum of Photography. In 1992-93 he received a grant to photograph the Toronto Blue Jays in their Spring Training Facility in Dunedin, FL (funded by an additional grant from Kodak). His large-scale politically charged iconic flags of the USA and Cuba have been purchased by several museums and private collections. His riders on Metro systems around the world were purchased by the Biblioteque Nationale de France and the Library of Congress. His portraits of artists and writers with closed eyes and a botanical study of dying flowers in gardens and cemeteries - exploring metaphorically the concept of aging were exhibited in 2023 in “Xposure ’23” in the UAE and PhotoAlicante ’23 in Spain.
His work has been exhibited in Europe, Japan, China, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, etc, in over 400 group and 42 solo exhibitions. The Library of Congress, (DC) The Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of American Art, La Biblioteque Nationale de France (Paris), The International Museum of Photography, the Museum of Modern Art, (NY) and in thirty-five other museums and private collections have collected his work.
His publications include: Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, Fourth Edition: Digital Imaging, Theory and Applications, History, and Science (Hardcover). The Concise Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: History and Contemporary Issues.
The Photograph Collector’s Guide Bullfinch Press., Chapter: “The Digital Photography Market, Connoisseurship and Esthetics”
Miquel Salom: The Tintype in the 21st Century.He has been awarded the Florida Individual Artist Grant, the Cintas Foundation Fellowship, as well as other national and international fellowships.
He was elected to Who’s Who in Hispanic American (2009), Who’s Who in Academia (2012) and elected to Super Professor Status (Faculty Row 2012).
In 2013 he received the Provost Award for Outstanding Scholarship Activity and awarded the Cooper Fellowship for Outstanding Research (2014).
He is a past National Board Member and President of the Society of Photographic Education

Email: tomlopez@miami.edu
Instagram- jtomaslopezphoto
J Tomas Lopez Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jtomas.lopez.3

Lise Drost

Professor Emeritus In Art and Art History

Lise Drost taught at the University of Miami from 1993 to 2025 where she was the head of Printmaking; she also served in multiple service positions including freshman advisor, gallery director, graduate director and department chair, and 2D area coordinator. She oversaw the relocation of all the department’s studio facilities during her time there, to their current locations on campus on Levante Avenue.

Drost received her BFA from Florida International University in 1980 and MFA (in Printmaking) from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in 1983. She has received two Florida Individual Artist Grants, 13 University of Miami Research Support Awards and, most recently, two Miami Individual Artist Grants.

Drost works in Silkscreen, Lithography, Relief Printing and Etching, making both editions and unique pieces which are combined with painting and collage: the scale of the works ranges up to 60 x 120 inches.

Her selected solo exhibitions include the Deland Museum, the Polk Museum, and the Lowe Art Museum (all in Florida); Miriam Perlman Gallery in Chicago, the University of Dallas, and Bird in Hand Gallery in Washington D.C. She has been in more than 50 curated print exchanges, and 300 group invitational and juried exhibitions. Drost has works in many public collections including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Denver Art Museum. She received grants to have prints published and added to the collections at Island Press at Washington University in St. Louis, Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia and Flatstone Studio at Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota.

Email: l.drost@miami.edu
Website: www.lisedrost.com
Instagram: @lisedrostart