Bibby Gignilliat, Mixed Media Artist
 

Artist Statement
Each day as I step into my studio, I am entering a playground – a workout for taking risks, letting go of attachments, and experimenting with new ideas. The materials are guiding me. A letter to the tooth fairy, a One Way road sign, or a billboard scrap foraged in San Francisco all make their way into the work and are a reflection of my interior life.  My spirit laughs out loud at the freedom of breaking the rules and drawing outside of the lines. I’m not sure who is in charge – my art or me. The process is alchemical, magical, and joyful. The maverick/rebel is encouraged while the perfectionist is given a time-out. The result is a pure reflection of my heart. In 2021, my work was chosen for the DeYoung Open at the DeYoung Museum. It is available through my studio, Sloan Miyasato Fine Art, through Slate Contemporary in Oakland and through the Portland Art Gallery in Portland, Maine.

About Bibby

Bibby has been creative since she picked up her first crayon. She started private art classes at 10 and put her art career on the hold at 11, after being criticized by her art teacher. 

Turning her adult creative talents toward cooking, Bibby became a marketing manager for Williams-Sonoma, and then decided to go to culinary school. From there she offered interactive cooking classes which evolved into the company, Parties That Cook, with satellite office in Chicago, Seattle and Portland. The business was successful, but Bibby had an epiphany when, as a panelist at the Sloan School of Management at MIT. She heard her company described as a lifestyle business. "I realized I had been pushing so hard, that I had left my own lifestyle behind. And I had forgotten what I liked to do.” And what she liked to do was paint.

Coming full circle, Bibby sold the business and shifted her focus to becoming a full-time mixed media artist, living and working in Sausalito, CA. She is unconstrained by the formal training of art school and has studied with Nicholas Wilton, Michael Cutlip, Michael Shemchuk, Mark Eanes, Heather Wilcoxon, Leslie Allen, Louise Victor and Carl Heyward.