Grace L. Cuenca – Biography
Grace L. Cuenca’s art works are mostly round shapes with stunning combinations of pattern, texture and colors added with shadows to create illusionary depth. The spinning character with rhythmic arrangement was later identified as Geometric Abstraction.
After she was diagnosed from Ovarian Cancer, and while in recovery, her skill continued to flourish with images that profoundly move and stretch the imagination. These abstractions come with affection and emotional connectivity as it expresses her fluency precipitated through years of study.
Grace graduated with a B. S. in Chemical Engineering at Cebu Institute of Technology, (CIT) Philippines and arrived in Canada as a contract worker. Her first landed immigrant status job was at an engineering consulting firm as a Copy Document Technician. She was one of those who handled the reproduction of technical drawings that later inspired her to study part-time courses in Mechanical Drafting and ACAD-Computer Aided Drafting at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). She eventually studied fulltime and achieved a Mechanical Drafting Certificate at Vancouver Community College (VCC).
Grace then developed an interest in photography and it started to fill the empty space while going through life changes. She realized that a camera was not only a scientific wonder to possess but a glorious way to spend time in another world. She captured images and wrote poetry which she thought was her subconscious knowledge of self-expression of communicating her inner strength. She subsequently studied Photography at Langara College which was halfway through the program. It opened a window of opportunity to connect with social media and in particular Facebook connections. She continues to study Photoshop at Focal Point which helps cultivate and nurture her technical creativity. Grace discovered that Art Therapy is her niche in life.
Volunteering at the Vancouver Art Gallery provides and nurtures her social skills and innovation. It opens a window to update her skills through a platform called blog. This helps showcase her abstraction and photography art works.
Her first encounter with a group of professional artists on social media was an experience she greatly appreciated. They were her first online ‘influencers’ and was another opportunity to learn more from different disciplines. Beatriz Milhazes, an artist with a flare of Geometric Abstraction and a vibrant Latin culture artist, and Al Held, a geometric painter are artists she’s interested in studying to help find deeply her technical creative skills.
Grace’s first group exhibit in title Connect at The Gathering Place was a test of finding her comfort zone as an artist. She was thankful she started there as she established her artistic roots in reflection of her personal journey. Membership to Arts Alliance got her introduced to LocoMoto Art founder Lora Lee Coles who later invited her to join the exhibit in title Pattern That Unite Us_ Mandala. It was Grace’s second group exhibit held at Aberthau Mansion, Point Grey Community Center. Inspired by the exhibits, she continue to explore different ideas to create new art works that will connect to her cultural roots.
格蕾丝·L·昆卡
Grace L. Cuenca 的艺术作品大多是圆形、图案、纹理和颜色的惊人组合加上阴影以营造出错觉的深度。有节奏排列的旋转字符被确定为几何抽象。
在她被诊断出患有卵巢癌并在康复期间，她的艺术技能继续发展，其图像深刻地移动并扩展了想象力。这些抽象画面带有感情和情感连接，因为它们表达了她通过多年研究沉淀的流畅性。
格蕾丝在菲律宾宿务理工学院 (CIT) 获得化学工程学士学位，并以合同工的身份来到加拿大。她的第一份移民身份工作是在一家工程咨询公司担任复印文件技术员。她是处理技术图纸复制的人之一，后来启发她在加拿大卑诗理工学院 (BCIT) 学习机械制图和 ACAD 计算机辅助制图的兼职课程。她最终在温哥华社区学院 (VCC) 全日制学习并获得了机械制图专业证书。
格蕾丝随后对摄影产生了兴趣，并开始在经历生活变化的同时填补空白。她意识到相机不仅拥有科学奇迹，而且是在另一个世界消磨时光的方式。她捕捉图像并写诗，她认为这是对表达内在力量的自我表达和分享潜意识知识。随后，她在温哥华兰加拉学院学习摄影，该课程已完成一半。这段学习为她打开了一扇与社交媒体，尤其是 Facebook 连接的机会之窗。她继续在 Focal Point 学习 Photoshop，培养她的技术创造力。格蕾丝也发现艺术疗法是她生活中的一个很有益的基础。
在温哥华美术馆的志愿服务提供并培养了她的社交技巧和创新能力，又为她打开了一个窗口，她通过网络日志平台不断更新她的技能，帮助展示抽象和摄影艺术作品。
她第一次在社交媒体上与一群专业艺术家相遇，是非常好的的经历。他们是她的第一个在线“影响者”，是她另一个从不同学科学习更多知识的机会。 Beatriz Milhazes 是一位具有几何抽象光环的艺术家，也是一位充满活力的拉丁文化艺术家，而几何画家 Al Held 是她有兴趣学习的艺术家，以帮助她深入了解自己的技术创作技能。
格蕾丝在 The Gathering Place 举办的名为 Connect （《连接》）的第一次群展是对寻找她作为艺术家的舒适区的考验。她很感激她从那里开始，因为她在反映她的个人旅程时建立了她的艺术根源。艺术联盟的成员身份让她认识了 LocoMoto 艺术创始人 Lora Lee Coles，后者后来邀请她参加名为《让我们团结起来的模式_曼陀罗》的展览。这是 Grace 在 Point Grey 社区中心的 Aberthau Mansion 举办的第二次群展。受到展品的启发，她继续探索不同的想法，创作出与她的文化根源相关联的新作品。
