Cristina Alice Calderara Jaime

I was born in 1968 in Canton Ticino, Switzerland. After spending the early years of my life in Canton Aargau and Canton Graubünden I returned to Ticino in 1978. Since 2001 I have lived and worked in Arosio, a mountain village above Lugano. In 2010 I renovated an old house and turned it into a creative space, and since 2018 I have organized exhibitions of local and out-of-town artists. I am heir to a stimulating family tradition where creativity merged with everyday life in a natural way.

that’s how I started: accumulating, touching, shaping, integrating, discovering what was going through my hands

I have a background and experience in psychiatry and social work, and I am interested in communication in regard to interpersonal relationships and with the world around me. The resulting swirl of emotions stimulates me to work simultaneously on several fronts: painting, sculpture, installations and performance; with unlimited, organic and inorganic materials. With my work I try to capture, unrestrained, the essence of what I want to convey, experimenting with various expressive techniques.

objects and materials have always attracted me like a magnet: it is impossible for me not to pick up a peculiar-looking piece of wood, pebbles, scrap metal and so on.

it's as if the object itself is inviting me to perceive its multiple evolutions

Inspiration and a constant introspective research accompany my artistic path. Two significant trips to Mexico (Chapas) and Venezuela (Delta Amacuro, among the Warao natives, "the people of the canoes") and the opportunity that I was given to take a closer look at their culture has allowed me to reconnect with my more instinctive side. I identified myself in this direct, natural, authentic, profound way, in harmony with the external and internal nature. When I walk into my studio I wrap myself up in this intuition and let it flow within my deepest and most intrinsic impulses. In 2013 I participated in my first collective exhibition in Astano, ArtMisti. Since then I have shown my work in Ticino (Ponte Tresa, Lugano, Novaggio), in Italy (Milan, Genoa and Venice) and in Bern.