Collection: Bianka Groves - Featured Artist

Artist Statement:

Grounded in functionality and design, I make useful objects that are quiet and simple which all but go unnoticed. Repetition compliments the honesty of skill and craft but allows for a development of new ideas. I work slowly to produce clean forms and lines while adding add hints of imperfection to give both the personality of the handmade and give way to allow a moment to pause and admire.

Playing with line creates subtle elements of designs from landscapes to architecture. This creates a movement that brings us closer to the object outside of its utility. Decoration and adornment are kept minimal while still allowing for an elegant style which embraces its function for daily life.

Bio: 

Bianka Groves is a potter in New Mexico and has studied ceramics all over the country along with teaching pottery at Baltimore Clayworks, Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Santa Fe Clay, and the University of New Mexico. Her work is thoughtfully functional and has the ability to complete the elegance of any interior space. The polished composition of her designs are an ode to the simplistic repetition and studies of minimalist design, architecture, and lands capes. When she’s not making pots out of her backyard home studio, you can find her hiking in the desert with her dogs. 

Working primarily in porcelain, throwing on the potter’s wheel, Bianka’s surface designs are part of an inlay technique similar to tattooing. A pattern is gently carved into the surface of the freshly made unfired pot using acupuncture needles, tattoo needles, or x-acto blades. Once the composition is complete, a black slip is applied to the body of the piece and sinks into the cut drawings. Most of the excess slip is cleaned away leaving the inlaid design. Once the pots are fired to about 2350 degrees, the raw porcelain is polished to a silky smooth matte finish.

All of Bianka’s pots are food safe, microwave & dishwasher safe unless you’re lucky enough to collect her rare pieces with gold or silver luster. These unique art objects are finished through a process of taking real gold or silver particles suspended in an oil, sap, or resin, then fired in a third firing up to about 1300 degrees. The organic materials melt away leaving the precious metal solidified on the surface. Similar to the behavior of fine jewelry, the luster on these pots can scratch so be sure to clean gently with a soft cloth and without the use of abrasive chemicals.

Find Bianka ’s Artaxis page: https://artaxis.org/artist/bianka-groves/

Find Bianka on Instagram: @bianka_groves