BIOGRAPHY

Pia Kristina Dugger is an American-born artist, raised in a multi-cultural household in Sindelfingen, Germany. Growing up in the 1980s, Pia loved watching TV as much as spending time outdoors, exploring nature, and caring for animals. Early on, her German family instilled in her that hard work and academic success were essential in life. As an A-student who struggled to keep up with high expectations, she also struggled to fit in. Suffering from insomnia and migraine headaches, Pia spent many nights drawing to calm her mind.

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In her teens, she continued to seek comfort in art when tensions in her household became unbearable. In 2001 Pia began studying graphic design at the Akademie für Kommunikation in Bad-Cannstatt, Germany. Immediately after her graduation in 2004, she immigrated to the USA for love. Living in Hallandale, Florida, she experienced culture shock and struggled with the fear of losing herself. She turned to what she had been taught was the solution to all: hard work. Pia’s early adulthood was focused on working hard and becoming successful in corporate America. She married in 2008 and became a mother for the first time in 2010. There was no longer time for art and self-care.

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Her job and career success continued to be a priority until the birth of her second son in 2015. As a toddler, he rekindled his mom’s love for art and Pia eventually returned to what had helped and comforted her in the past. Focus on how the lack of work-life balance made her feel, unattainable expectations as a working mother and wife and the human disconnect from nature and addiction to electronics became her subject matter. Initially, painting in acrylics and later exploring oils. Pia creates paintings in bright colors contrasting with muted specimens, which stand in the center of her paintings. Pia’s work highlights the ongoing struggle of natural human beings in a technology- and profit-driven world.