About
Pia Cruzalegui, art foundations teacher, humanities and languages tutor at Evanston Township High School, and adult community instructor at the Art Center Highland Park. Her teaching practice focuses on promoting critical thinking skills, imparting drawing techniques, and introducing students to a contemporary approach to a global visual culture. Pia's approach to teaching digital media is process-based guiding students through the technical aspects of creating motion-based media. As a tutor, in a small group conversational setting, she applies listening skills to discover students' needs and helps them deepen their inquiry and problem-solve through guided presentations to prompt discussions. As an adult art instructor, she hosts a didactic and creative approach to making art as a craft for hobbyists. Every learning environment is created to encourage exploration in an enjoyable environment while fostering a safe zone for ideas exchange in a colloquial setting.
In the studio, Pia creates installations, many of which repurpose objects and include video and/or sound. She has a background in architectural model-making using paper, metal and wood. She is a well-versed drafts(wo)man (both manually and digitally).
Between 2014 and 2019, Pia served as a studio assistant to two prominent Chicago sculptors working in wood, metal, and mixed mediums. She utilized this time to develop sculptural skills including the use of metal and wood shop equipment: bandsaw, table, mitre, circular saws, angle grinder, blacksmithing tools, and general utility power tools. She also learned basic welding (TIG), metal grinding, smoothing, finishing, and staining. She has worked making mouldings using silicone and has built small to medium-sized sculptural objects and prototypes using acrylic glass and PVC (cutting, bonding, polishing). Most recently, Pia has created sculptural objects from metal wires, plaster and latex. Pia is trained to operate digital fabrication equipment (3D Printing/CNC router)
Commercially, she has performed in set design and as a scenic artist, painting backdrops, and assisting in wardrobe and prop-making. As a multimedia designer and producer, she has produced digital backdrops for the stage, corporate motion graphics, and documentary-style videos. She is an expert at operating professional-grade cameras, projection devices, diverse audio-visual equipment, and editing platforms.
Technology is a big part of her practice making use of Adobe CC for all creative media production; Autodesk Fusion 360, Tinkercad, Ultimaker Cura, and Rhino for object and 3-D design; sewing machines as needed, and coding for use in design, operating digital equipment and even tinkering with electronic circuits to enhance installations.
In addition to artmaking, she produces an art podcast.
Pia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications with a specialization in film, video and multimedia from Florida Atlantic University, and has received a master's of fine arts with a concentration in new media and curatorial arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her LinkedIn profile is: https://www.linkedin.com/in/piacruzalegui/
Link to complete Artist CV here
Link to resume here
Link to art practice portfolio, here
Last 5 Years Highlights
2023 - Production and launching of Oral Fixation Art Podcast
2021 - (Volunteer) Rollout of Chicago Sculpture International gallery 3D4D (currently, CSI Project Space)
2019 - Video documentary project funded by the National Endowment of the Arts, Big. Archived at the Freeport Art Museum
2019-2021 - Board member Chicago Sculpture International
2018 - Largest curatorial project to date in Chicago, Vital Signs, with activations in Greece and Italy (2019)