Claudia Cuesta (Colombian) is an artist, teacher and mentor based on the Sunshine Coast, BC. Though Cuesta is primarily a sculptor, she often integrates sound, video, performance and painting into her practice. Employing a wide range of materials—from industrial coal, steel and copper; intangible light and air; to organic silk, lambswool and water—she imbues the minimalist aesthetic of her sculptures with the presence of the human body. Cuesta explores the impact of manufactured belief systems and the material world on human ego, identity and physicality. Cuesta holds an MA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London. Her work has been exhibited at artsite Lab, Sechelt; Vancouver Art Gallery; pitt gallery, Vancouver; Indiana University, Bloomington; Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha; Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; and Power Plant, Toronto, among other venues. Cuesta has held residencies in Chelva, Spain and at Kaneko, Omaha, and taught at Emily Carr University of Art and Design until 2008, at the Universidad Nacional, Columbia in 1995 and at various schools in England between 1989 and 1993. Her work is held in numerous art collections, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art, Bogota and Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha.