Christienne Cuevas is a Filipina artist and art educator whose work moves between memory and stillness, presence and absence. She works primarily in graphite, oil, and natural materials to create portraits, sculptures, and quiet gestures that hold space for what’s often overlooked or left unsaid. Her practice often begins with the body—usually her own—not as self-display, but as a site of history, inheritance, and soft resistance.

In addition to figurative work, Cuevas is drawn to still life painting and film photography—mediums that allow her to observe, collect, and compose moments of intimacy, texture, and time. Across disciplines, her work explores the quiet rituals of seeing and being seen.

As an educator, Cuevas teaches with the same care and attentiveness she brings to her art. Her classrooms are spaces of reflection, rigour, and slow transformation. She believes in art as a way of paying attention—to the world, to others, to ourselves—and in making space for students to develop their voice with intention and integrity.

In 2017, Cuevas was awarded the Kingston Portrait Prize for her clarity of vision and dedication to craft. Her work has since been featured in exhibitions across North America, Europe and Asia, and is beginning to gain recognition from collectors for its quiet intensity and emotional precision.

Click on the section below to view an exploration of her Filipino-Canadian heritage and identity.