Jorge T. López learned the art of woodcarving at the knee of his father, José Dolores López, whose work had spurred a revival of Hispanic carving in Córdova, New Mexico, in the early decades of the twentieth century. Jorge López carved only part-time until 1952, when he opened a workshop with his wife, Silvianita, also a carver. A devout Catholic and a member of the Brotherhood of Our Father Jesus Christ Nazarene, commonly known as the Penitentes, López devoted himself to the carving of santos and taught his nieces and nephews to carve the traditional religious images of Hispanic New Mexico.