ABOUT

Bella Blanca is a Chilean-American ceramic artist, educator, and emerging human born in Portland Oregon and based in Vancouver B.C. She holds a BFA in Critical and Cultural Practices from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Her studio is located in East Vancouver and she works as a ceramics technician and teacher at community centres. She  received the Gardiner Museum Emerging Artist Award in 2024 and has been featured in the International Ceramic Art Fair (ICAF) and local exhibitions across British Columbia. 

Artist Statement
I'm inspired by allowing material processes to form a conduit for ineffable emotions like care, love and grief. I use ceramic sculpture as a means of understanding how craft reflects and informs individual and cultural identities. Clay offers the unique opportunity to form a soft thought that over time becomes an object of permanence and record of experience. We have been telling stories with clay for as long as people have been pulling mud out of the ground, and it’s pretty great that I get to participate in that. I make art about the things I like and feel, and I help others to do the same. 

Link to Bella Blanca's CV