Written by Amelia Pontifex
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– Al Roker
Bianca Gardiner-Dodd is a proud Kamilaroi woman. She is a mother and step mother and married to a Bundjalung man. Her works reflect her pride for her ancestry and heritage as well as that of her children. She comes from a long line of strong, pioneering, determined and resilient people and both shares and carries their collective voices and stories through her works.
“For me it’s always about how you treat people. Identity. I learnt that from my family and my mob and that comes from a place of wisdom.”
Bianca Gardiner-Dodd
Like the waterways she paints, her large scale works spread her stories across the canvas. Stories of connection, family and identity. Originally a dancer and choreographer, Bianca studied dance and education before running her own dance studio. Dance plays a key role in Bianca’s methodology and approach to painting. She finds it a freeing and expressive outlet that is all about balance, movement and energy. Bianca’s father even used to call her love for dance “her art”, something that was part of her and was her way of expressing herself and her emotions.
“I recently realised that I approach painting the same way as I planned a choreography. I realised that every beat was a mark and a movement and I could fill the music, fill the space and fill a canvas in a very similar way. Like music, painting has slow and building moments, moments of great energy and impact and has a similar energy.”
Gudjin Story Compass | 175 x 134cm, Acrylic on canvas
Bianca was inspired by many other creatives before venturing into selling her art full time. She now creates art for galleries, has licences for her art and does commissions for clients. She has a profound understanding and appreciation for her heritage and takes pride in acknowledging her inherited beliefs and the pioneering efforts of those who led the way before her. Bianca’s works now carry a strong sense of the self determination and strength of the powerful women who have come before her and paved the way for what is possible.
Resilience | 83 x 123cm, Acrylic on stretched canvas
Bianca notes many of her family and mob members as influences on her art. Her mother, father and her Great Uncle Vic Chapman who was the first Indigenous school principal in NSW, Tex Skuthorpe from Goodooga country as well as the legendary Albert Namatijira. Bianca also notes artists like Picasso, Van Gogh, Chuck Close, Corinne Lewis and Kellie North as influences.
Billabongs, Birthing and Belief | 150 x 180cm, Acrylic on stretched canvas
Connection to nature, its waterways, river systems and land heritage all drive Bianca’s work. She works a lot with and around water and feels it provides an energy source that her works are ultimately imbued with. We can see in the moments of rapid movement and in the spatial awareness, her understanding of the variations and energies that water provides, its symbolism and vitality. The calm and the volatile.
“There’s a bit of method and a bit of play and free expression in how I explore my messages and the stories on the canvas. When it comes to commissioned works, it’s important for me to do a little research on the buyer’s connections to nature and to get them talking, to get to know their stories, where their closest body of water are, where their closest waterways are, their closest hinterlands. It all goes into the work. If it’s commissioned work for a business, their goals are really important and getting key words for their goals and purposes. It’s the keywords that I can tell through symbols and their balance and interplay.”
Burugah, The Sea | 173 x 130cm, Acrylic on canvas
Bianca enjoys working with black, white and earthy tones of brown and regularly applies a pop of blue or a sunset pink. Her works not only explore colour and symbols through the dot marks, but levitate and submerge from the canvas through her play with shadows.
“I work with a lot of paint on the end of my brush because of how it creates texture on the canvas. I love when I see people standing on the side of my paintings to see the paint leaping off the canvas or when people have to touch the painting so that they can feel what they are seeing.”
Gudjin Creek | 70 x 90cm, Acrylic on canvas
“It’s great to work with Australian brands that have a positive impact on our mob. It’s great to see the progress of mob through the years. Every project that I do is with the goal to make people ‘feel’ something. That’s why I work on such a large scale, there are so many emotions that go into them and I think people can sense that. I am being asked more often to do public art pieces which is cool because more people get to be affected by it and it’s a chance for my family to see it in their everyday life.”
Bianca Gardiner-Dodd’s works can all be found on the Art Lovers Australia website and she is also available for commissioned artworks
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