Today we’d like to introduce you to Bianca Pettis.
Hi Bianca, thanks for joining us. Let’s start with your story—tell us a bit about your background.
I was born in Denver and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. Childhood was confusing, but art and music made sense — so I followed that path. I started acting as a teenager and eventually enrolled in the drama program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for my senior year of high school. The theater was a gift. It gave me the tools to express myself — suddenly, my emotions became instruments for performance.
I earned my BA in Theater at Antioch College, which was beautifully nonconformist in the 1990s — puppets, drag, performance art, all the weird and wonderful things. During that time, I interned at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis. I began writing and performing solo work: surreal, comic monologues drawn from traumatic memories — stories about ladders to the moon and cockroaches in love. Minneapolis felt like home in a way I didn’t expect, thanks to spaces like Patrick’s Cabaret, Frank Theater, and Penumbra Theatre. So after college, I moved here, worked professionally as an actor, and supported myself with temp jobs — very “artist surviving capitalism” energy.
One of my favorite gigs was at the Science Museum of Minnesota. I briefly worked as a “Science Live Actor” and assistant to Tessa Bridal, who commissioned scripts and helped museum educators use performance in their programming. It was playful, innovative, and unique.
Eventually, I stepped away from acting and took video and screenwriting courses at Minneapolis Community and Technical College — a magical place! That’s where I met Jacob, my partner in life and art. Together, we formed the duo BeatrixJar* and dove headfirst into circuit bending — a sound art technique Jacob learned from musician Ryan Olcott.
Jacob and I toured the country teaching workshops, making noise (literally), and collaborating with museums like the High Museum in Atlanta, ICA Boston, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego to share workshops and live performances. We received a Bush Fellowship in Media Arts in 2010 and released four albums (all available on Spotify). In many ways, I used what I learned at the Science Museum to share our work on a national scale.
In 2014, I returned to school for an MFA in Visual Art. My mom is a painter, and she planted that seed early through museum visits and her devotion to color and light. Since then, I’ve expanded into murals, designed a playground with Public Art Saint Paul, and completed a residency at Highpoint Center for Printmaking.
More recently, I’ve been exploring music in a deeper, more personal way. I took a semester online toward an MFA in Music at CalArts, and I’m now studying at Berklee College of Music Online. I’m working toward a degree and developing a solo project called Bee Wilde — an experimental, emotional soundscape about being and wildness. I’ve also started an AI comic series called The Bee Wilde Sessions — a new way to process grief through storytelling and sound.
What are some challenges you’ve faced on this path?
Let’s say… “smooth” has never been the vibe.
I’ve navigated a difficult childhood, ADHD, PTSD, and a level of life chaos that could be its performance art piece. My partner, Jacob — my creative collaborator — has lived with a brain tumor since he was 15. In 2014, he had emergency brain surgery for hydrocephalus, and another surgery followed in 2023. Supporting him while trying to stay creatively afloat has been incredibly hard. He’s changed a lot since the surgeries, and I carry a lot of grief. There are days I feel profoundly lonely and overwhelmed.
Berklee has been a lifeline — like a steady bassline cutting through the noise. Jacob and I created music together for years, but I never had formal music training. So, studying mixing and production has felt empowering. Honestly, sometimes creating is the only thing that makes sense.
Could you tell us more about your work? What makes it unique?
I never set out to be a multidisciplinary artist. I just followed my curiosity, and that was where it led me. My work responds to life’s intensity and absurdity through theater, sound, video, murals, or comics. I’m obsessed with the emotional architecture of sound — how frequency can hold, shift, and translate feeling.
Right now, I’m especially drawn to audio mixing—I see it as painting with sound. I also love the conversation between audio and visuals in music videos. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with AI-generated comics as a way to remix grief and narrative, creating story worlds that carry emotional weight in unexpected ways.
What sets me apart is that I never stopped, even when life got messy, and quitting would’ve been easier. Theater saved me when I was young, and art continues to be the way I survive, understand, and imagine something better.
What matters most to you right now?
Today? Peace of mind. The ability to sit still, even briefly, without static. It’s not a glamorous answer, but it’s real. That quiet space is where creativity starts for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.beewilde.rocks
- Instagram: @beatrixjar
