Ada Pilar Cruz has a Masters of Fine Arts in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She primarily makes clay sculptures and constructs installations. She also works with printmaking and book arts. Her work has been exhibited in New York, where she resides; across U.S. and internationally. 

Cruz is also a Lecturer/Educator of modern and contemporary art at MoMA’s education department where she has been since 1995. In 2008 she joined The Drawing Center, as a Lecturer/Educator with Family Programs where she gives workshops about contemporary drawing. She is also professor of Art History for Mercy College.

Among the awards and residencies she has received are, Studio Museum in Harlem, 1990; Jerome Foundation Grant and Residency, 1989; New York Foundation for the Arts Grant, 1993; Lower East Side Printshop, 1997; Ellenville, NY Storefront Residency, 2007; Museum of Art and Design, 2014.  More recently, RIA/CE, India, 2016; and she will be attending Nes Artist residency in Iceland, 2017.

Further, Cruz works on collaborative projects, making sculptures and installations in various communities. She is currently working on a community art project with Arts 10566 in Peekskill, NY.

Finally, she is a member of the Buster Levi Gallery in Cold Spring, NY; the Taller Boricua, Rafael Tufino Print studio in Spanish Harlem, NY and has her sculpture studio in Lake Peekskill, NY.