Artist in Residence: Bianca Pintan

To mark the launch of our new season shade Cobalt, we invited eight artists to join our Artist in Residence series and exhibit their cobalt-hued works in Assembly Label stores around Australia and New Zealand.

Everything changed the day Bianca Pintan encountered clay. “I have always loved to explore my creative freedom. Finding clay as my working medium has allowed me to dive into my inner child and create from a place of infinite possibilities,” says the Byron Bay-based artist, who was born and raised in Brazil. It’s been a few years since Bianca made her first vases, and in that time her affinity with this medium has resulted in a completely unique style; her aesthetic imprinted on every piece.

The natural world plays a defining role in Bianca’s practice. “Nature is an infinite source of inspiration and keeps influencing my work — I’ve never felt inspired to create based on someone else’s creations,” Bianca says. “It has been a natural process of bringing the elements that I find beautiful in nature into my artworks and the more time I spend in the studio, the more I can explore new techniques and bring to life some of my many inspirations and ideas.” It’s not surprising, then, that her use of the colour blue is rooted in nature, too. “It has always been a fascinating hue to me, and moving to Byron Bay and living by the ocean has made this deep connection with blue even stronger,” she tells. “Walking along the coastline, fishing in the sea and snorkelling at Julian Rocks has given me so many tones of blue to explore, and achieving this particular cobalt blue opened a portal into my work.”

Beyond the sea of blues at her doorstop, Bianca is also fascinated by cobalt’s chemical qualities. “It’s a challenging colour to achieve when it comes to ceramics that go up to 1300 degrees Celsius,” she explains, “but it’s all worth it as it gets me excited every time I open my kiln and see new unique cobalt blue artworks inside”. Reflecting on her Artist in Residence display, Bianca says: “This work represents my true self at this moment in my life. The use of colour comes from having my first child and being connected with this place of unconditional love and freedom. My intense nature is what you can see when looking at bold colours”. Similarly, the complex textures map out the unfolding of her life. “The unique characteristics in each piece are representations of the time it was created, as if it was a photograph that you can look back at and feel nostalgic about.”

From her studio, Bianca reconnects with her environment and her practice. “I like to create from a place of presence… I am listening to the sounds of my hands on clay, the water that I use to sponge the pieces, the sounds of my carving tools, the breeze blowing outside, and sometimes the waves breaking or the rain pouring,” Bianca says poetically. “Being present allows me to see beautiful things everywhere I go. To me, life is an infinite source of inspiration.”

Bianca’s Artist in Residence work will be available to purchase after the exhibition. For enquiries, contact https://www.biancapintan.com