My Story

“I am fascinated how light affects our perception of space and by its role in telling vivid narratives, connecting us deeply to our senses and emotions.”

Based in T’karonto, Daniele Guevara is an award-winning designer whose artistic practice combines lighting and projection design, stage design, sculptural installation, and creative technology. 

In 2009, Daniele was awarded a professional training grant through Theatre Ontario to travel to London England to assist set designer, Michael Levine, on his first production at the Royal Opera House, “The Flying Dutchman”. In 2010, Daniele was awarded an Access Grant (Ontario Arts Council) to work with Wayne McGregor Random Dance (London, England) Rubberbandance (Montreal, Canada) and Theatre Görlitz (Görlitz, Germany). Excluding Rubberbandance, Daniele was the first Canadian artist to work with these companies. In 2014, Daniele was awarded a Chalmer’s Professional Development Grant (Ontario Arts Council) to work with the software company, Derivative, to develop her own projection tools and video playback systems using Touch Designer software. That same year, she programmed and built her first interactive game, “Toronto’s Crack Smoking Mayor” which was selected as part of the Vector Festival, Vector X Punk Arcade exhibit.

In November 2014, she was one of seven artists selected to travel to the  Banff Centre for the Arts to participate in the Convergence Lab, a residency meant to expose the intersection of art and interactive technology. Working within a team and as an independent artist, she has since created a wide variety of interactive experiences including commercial projects and creating real-time live visuals for Toronto-based artists LAL, Maylee Todd, and Esie Mensah.

From November 2015  to May 2022, Daniele was the Lighting Supervisor for the Canadian Opera Company, Canada’s largest opera company and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. Daniele designed the first version of the company’s repertory lighting plot, handling the first major purchase of lighting equipment since the opening of the Four Seasons Centre in 2006.  She worked with internationally acclaimed lighting designers, overseeing the technical execution of lighting designs for 36 mainstage productions at the Four Seasons Centre.  She was the lighting designer for the inaugural digital concert series for the 2021/2022 season, launching the COC's first-ever Digital Streaming Initiative.

Exploring a passion for creating interactive sculptures,  Daniele’s newest works examine transformational qualities of light to create multi-dimensional compositions. Her lighting installation, ‘Surround’ was selected for the 2020 Winter Light Exhibition at Ontario Place. This outdoor festival engaged thousands of patrons during February and March.  In 2021, she was one of 10 artists invited to submit proposals for Artscape Atelier’s permanent sculpture series as part of the Discovery Centre at Lakeview Village, Mississauga.

Daniele is also a lover of nature and birds. She has been a bird rescue volunteer for the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP Canada) since the Spring 0f 2021. To date, she has recorded over 400 collisions, rescuing 104 live birds who were rehabilitated. In 2022, she was a monitor for the critically endangered Piping Plovers on Toronto Island, whose nest was one of 5 in all of Ontario. Her volunteer work was the subject of the short film Field Notes which premiered at the 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival.

Currently, Daniele is working on completing the Lighting Design certificate program at Toronto Metropolitan University. In recognition of her academic achievements, she was the recipient of the 2022 Illuminating Engineering Society Award for academic excellence in the field of lighting.

Daniele is a member of Associated Designers of Canada and IATSE Local ADC659.