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Aida Nicole Lugo Cantu is a multidisciplinary artist from California. She was born in 1990, in Pomona, on the outskirts of Los Angeles County. She is first Generation Mexican American on her mother's side and her father traveled here from Puerto Rico in his mother's womb to be born in the bustling city of Chicago, Il. In Pomona, Aida was introduced to an art scene consisting of an artists’ colony, galleries, museums and all only a short bus ride away from downtown Los Angeles. Inspired by the idea that artists were an important staple in history and her community she began to make art at an early age. Aida began taking photos and making paintings and collage art and soon took interest in sculpture using found objects, wire and salt dough clays. She took internships in the Pomona arts colony and took classes the summer between secondary and high school. Naturally, she attended The School of Arts and Enterprise, a project based charter school, located in Pomona’s Arts’ Colony. At the SAE, she took classes in ceramics, theater, creative writing and fine and performing arts. Upon graduating in 2009, she decided to further her education at Otis College of Art and Design.
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While at Otis, Aida honed a sculpture installation practice majoring in Sculpture New Genres with a concentration in community arts engagement. Aida’s work strives to start a dialogue about meditation and dreamlike states, our past as an evolving species and our relationship to the material and natural world.
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Today, Aida practices sculpture and painting in Pomona. She teaches in the education and studio programs at The American Museum For Ceramic Art where she has a studio space and runs the museum store. She also collaborates with her husband on video and short film projects as a performer.