Cristiane is an artist, designer, and place-based educator committed to environmental stewardship and building community resilience. She grew up between the densely populated city of Santo Domingo, the cultivated lands of Arroyo Frio and the undisturbed wilderness of Cordillera Central in the Dominican Republic. Her work is greatly motivated by her exposure to drastically contrasting landscapes. Cristiane approaches art and design practices as tools to engage with and understand the ecologies we transit and inevitably contribute to. Her creative process relies on place, time, the biotic and abiotic, and serves to facilitate the building of kincentric relations.

She received a bachelor in Furniture Design with a minor in Nature Culture and Sustainability Studies and a masters in Art and Design Education from the Rhode Island School of Design. While a student at RISD, Cristiane co-founded the Regenerative Earth Collective; a student-led group working towards hands-on environmental engagement. Her thesis, Designing Ecotones, describes the educational, social, and environmental impacts of collectively created and stewarded regenerative ecosystems.

Most recently, Cristiane has been guiding students in outdoor learning experiences through WildLives and site-specific design-build projects as a design educator for DownCity Design. She completed both the Master Gardener and Food Recovery Programs through the University of Rhode Island and continues to volunteer with organizations committed to community driven initiatives and environmental justice.