Ada Cruz
ARTIST STATEMENT
I work with clay because it is raw and malleable, of the earth; the material is physical, engaging and intimate. It is the best material for me to convey a sense of urgency from the stories I have had access to and that I feel a responsibility to convey. Sculpting the human form is a powerful way of invoking raw sentiments. What my figures ultimately project and express evolves as I work, and each piece seems to give a tangible form to my need to cope with and share seemingly incoherent thoughts and feelings.
Much of my work has been with communities, whether teaching in art centers or schools; it is due to this work that I have found the figure so important. It mirrors something in my life which allows me to examine more closely.
I began to understand this when I started to work with clay, I realized that with my hands I had revealed a likeness, an emotion - a moment from something in my experience that became summarized in a form.
In Latin America people keep shrines for protection, for ancestors, for celebrations, or unknown needs; the shrine is important and requires personal engagement. Votive candles, flowers, notes, ex-votos or retablos are often included in shrines/altars. When I began making my figures I did not make them nor imagine them as shrines at all, but they have become altar pieces.
BIOGRAPHY
Ada Pilar Cruz has a Masters of Fine Arts in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She primarily makes clay sculptures and constructs installations. She also works with printmaking and book arts. Her work has been exhibited in New York, where she resides; across U.S. and internationally.
Cruz is also a Lecturer/Educator of modern and contemporary art at MoMA’s education department where she has been since 1995. In 2008 she joined The Drawing Center, as a Lecturer/Educator with Family Programs where she gives workshops about contemporary drawing. She is also professor of Art History for Mercy College.
Among the awards and residencies she has received are, Studio Museum in Harlem, 1990; Jerome Foundation Grant and Residency, 1989; New York Foundation for the Arts Grant, 1993; Lower East Side Printshop, 1997; Ellenville, NY Storefront Residency, 2007; Museum of Art and Design, 2014. More recently, RIA/CE, India, 2016; Studio Works, Tides Institute and Museum, Eastport, Maine, 2019; Nes, Iceland, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2025; Baer, Iceland, 2021; Herhusid, Iceland, 2022; Arctic Circle Residency, 2022; Arctic Culture Lab, Greenland, 2024.
Further, and importantly, Cruz works on collaborative projects, making sculptures and installations in various communities. She has worked on a community sculptural, painting, puppet projects, with Arts 10566 in Peekskill, NY with local community in Kelly Center; Tides Institute and Art Museum, Eastport, Maine, 2019, as a visiting artist, working with locals printing gyutoku (fish prints) and seaweed; Arctic Culture Lab, Greenland, with Inuit Greenlanders, 2024 (printmaking).
Finally, she is a member of the Buster Levi Gallery in Cold Spring, NY; the Taller Boricua, Rafael Tufino Print studio in Spanish Harlem, NY and has her sculpture studio in Lake Peekskill, NY.
Ada Cruz, Standing Figure, stoneware, 19” x 8” x 7”
Ada Cruz, Seaweed Crowned Head, stoneware, 18” x 10” x 8”
Ada Cruz, Standing Figure With Wings, porcelain, 24” x 10” x 7”
Ada Cruz, Figure With Wire Crown, stoneware, 22” x 9” x 9”
Ada Cruz, Large Head, stoneware, 15” x 11” x 12”
Ada Cruz, Guardian, stoneware, 17” x 11”
Ada Cruz, Mangrove, wood-cut block, 48” x 96”