Christina Ignacio-Deines
Edmonton, Alberta
Award-winning artist & designer, working in installation, painting & assemblage. Creating experiences and spaces about connection, transformation & belonging.
MessageChristina Ignacio-Deines is an artist, designer, and event producer based in Edmonton, Canada on Treaty 6. Educated in visual art and engineering, Christina combines her professional experience and analytical nature, basing all her creativity within a balanced foundation of emotion and logic.
In 2007, Christina launched I-D BOHEMIA Lifestyle, Events and Interiors, where she creates award-winning experiences and spaces, ranging from cozy dinners for 12 and secret picnics for 1200, to luxury homes and corporate offices. Her clientele includes major businesses, local philanthropists, and a heavy metal icon, and she has worked with feminist and intersectional groups, drag queens, and many non-profit and cultural organisations. She has been featured numerous times in media such as CBC, The Globe & Mail, WedLuxe, Western Living, and Fashion. In 2022, after 15 years as I-D BOHEMIA, Christina's studio became THRESHOLD, honouring the life-affirming work she and her clients do together.
The bedrock of Christina’s portfolio is her fine art practice, spanning the gamut of 2D and 3D disciplines, from drawing and painting, to photography and installation. She has exhibited across Canada, and her work is placed in private collections worldwide, including Canada, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Morocco and Norway. Christina recently completed a Front Ranges, Foothills, Eastern Slopes, 25’ wide charcoal mural commissioned by Chef Paul Shufelt for Hayloft. Christina’s Legacy For Future Generations: Riven’s Dream Lodge and her accompanying essay Reflections will feature in the upcoming anthology Give and Take: Motherhood and Creative Practice, published by Demeter Press.
People often wonder how Christina comes up with her bold and unique work and that question is at the heart of why she’s so different. Her creative process is a rewarding exploration that challenges assumptions. Connecting with people is central to her creating an experience that is inviting, authentic, and even profound. Ultimately, for Christina, life’s great moments happen when people and their environment harmonise in ways that transform our understanding of our lives, our world, and ourselves.
Statement
I create contemporary art and immersive experiences about connection, transformation and belonging. My work looks at our needs and motivations, identity, and the powerful influence our surroundings have on our well-being. I explore how we become friends with change, by composing spaces that feel welcoming, even when you are alone.
One language can’t capture the energy of a lifetime, so I work in many disciplines and techniques — fusing fine art, decoration, and craft, and applying visual principles in physical environments. I use objects to tell stories the viewer can read and touch: a dollhouse rooted in matrilineal heritage; monochromatic DIY dinner parties taking over city streets; a lantern house lighting the way home for families in crisis.
This reparative placemaking enriches people and communities: supporting us through emotions we may not have words to describe, and transforming our defining moments into brave, generous spaces. Now, when coming together is more important than ever, it isn’t just relevant to expose the work of connection and belonging. It is vital.
After a long hiatus from painting to focus on events and installations, I began to revisit paint and canvas following the birth of my first child. Whereas event productions and large-scale sculptural installations require months of planning and teams of people to fully realise the work, painting is a welcome return to an immediate, intuitive process.
When I founded my studio, painting was the spring that fed all the creation that followed. Now, after over a decade of large scale, but largely temporary, work for my clients, it's refreshing to rediscover the solitude and permanence of art making for its own sake.
All Rights Reserved. © 2022. Images used by permission unless the sole property of Christina Ignacio-Deines and THRESHOLD / I-D BOHEMIA.
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