Francesca Pinoni on Finding Inspiration in Travel, Nature and Everyday moments
In this interview for the Arts to Hearts Project, we spoke with Francesca Pinoni, an artist and traveller who has called Cyprus home for over 40 years. In this conversation, Francesca shares how her life between countries, cultures, and creative disciplines has shaped how she sees and makes art.
She talks about how curiosity keeps her moving forward, how travel continues to open her eyes, and how her journey through different media—from photography to collage—has become a way of expressing joy, connection, and light. We learn from Francesca that creativity doesn’t have to stay in one lane. It can grow with us, change direction, and keep surprising us—even after decades of exploring.
Francesca Pinoni is a featured artist in our book, “101 ArtBook – Abstract Edition” You can explore her journey and the stories of other artists by purchasing the book here:
https://shop.artstoheartsproject.com/products/the-creative-process-book
Born in San Francisco, California, Francesca Pinoni has made the island of Cyprus her home for the past four decades. A perpetual student and traveller, her curiosity and quest for beauty propel her from continent to continent. Creativity is Francesca’s passion. She has always been motivated to experience and express life in new and exciting ways. She has studied with top teachers and participated in several group exhibitions in California, London, Italy and Cyprus. After a successful solo show of multimedia work in 2018, Francesca now devotes her time to studying, exploring, and producing new work in various media. Following her bliss, she revels in the colours and forms of nature and startling juxtapositions of the man-made. After many physical, emotional and spiritual journeys, Francesca expresses her inner light, beauty and experience through inspired ideas on paper, canvas and photography.
1. You’ve lived in Cyprus for decades—how has the island shaped your creative journey?
Living in Cyprus, an island with over 10,000 years of history, offers a broad perspective. Arriving here in 1981 was, in a way, like going back in time. In my village, people still lived by the seasons; the year was punctuated by the ecclesiastical calendar with its fasting and celebration. For this California girl, it was something new and vibrant. My father was born in Italy, and I spent time there as a child, and knew that my energy was more in tune with life in the old world. I intended to live in Italy, but fate took me to Aphrodite’s “Island of Love where I was exposed to many cultures and the island’s long history, vital energy, and landscape.
Curiosity leads me to try different things rather than stick with what I know I can do well.
Francesca Pinoni
2. How does travel continue to influence how you see and express beauty in your work?
I travel frequently, sometimes to revisit places and occasionally to new ones. I do not seek opportunities to travel at this stage in my life, but I’m very open to what comes my way. Although Europe has become more homogeneous than it was when I travelled in my youth, there are unique attributes in each place and its people. The quality of light differs depending on where on this beautiful earth we are, visiting places with cultures that are still very different, like India and Egypt, for example, always provides a wealth of inspiration.
3. What role does curiosity play in your creative process across different media?
Curiosity leads me to try different things rather than stick with what I know I can do well. I have a lot of Gemini in my birth chart, which propels me in many different directions simultaneously! I’ve had trouble committing to one discipline within the arts: writing, dance, music, theatre or visual arts. In my later years, I’m better at focusing on visual art, but I am drawn to exploring and combining many different media. The more I learn, the more I want to discover!
4. After your 2018 solo show, how has your focus or creative voice evolved?
The pieces in this show were inspired by the format – a series of 30 x 30cm 3D collages mounted in 50 x 50 cm. I used colourful handmade paper, ribbons, small Chinese jade discs, raw copper, beads, and other objects collected on my travels. I enjoyed creating these, and they were well received. However, I want to expand my reach since Cyprus is a small island with a small art market, so these do not travel well. My creativity waned during the COVID period.
My time was spent following courses in meditation and yoga to keep centred in a turbulent world. Shortly thereafter, I went back to therapeutic mosaic making and then in 2022 began taking online art classes that opened my world to what’s going on now with new trends and materials and joining a vibrant art community that pushes me to try different things and explore other avenues of getting my work out into the world. I have done various artworks all my life, but only in the past three years have I been focused on consistently creating new work and finding my voice and expression as an artist.
I like to hint. I like to suggest. It’s up to the viewer to complete the sentence and hopefully surprise him or herself.
Francesca Pinoni
5. You mention expressing your “inner light”—what does that look like in your work today?
For many years, I have been practising meditation and exploring spirituality in various forms and have concluded that we have everything we need within ourselves. That’s what I mean by my “inner light”. It’s everybody’s inner light. One significant reason I’m making art is to help awaken the realisation of the light, beauty, and wholeness within each of us individually and collectively, connecting us to all of the universe. I express the light through my choices of colours, particularly in my abstract work and combinations of photos in my digital work that create unexpected connections to spark creativity in the viewers. I like to hint. I want to suggest. It’s up to the viewer to complete the sentence and hopefully surprise him or herself.
6. How do you balance the pull of nature and the impact of man-made elements in your art?
Nature inspires me, but I do not presume to outdo its beauty in my art. Man-made elements interest me when they complement or contrast what I see in nature, especially if the juxtaposition makes me smile. That’s why I like to use photography as a medium or through transfer printing; somebody has already created the item or image, and I am building on that creation and using it to make something new.
Francesca Pinoni’s work is about curiosity, exploration, and finding meaning through colour, form, and surprise. Whether working with photos, collage, or paint, she combines bits and pieces from her life, travels, and surroundings to create something new.
Her art doesn’t follow one set path—it’s guided by questions, standout moments, and a desire to connect. Francesca reminds us that staying curious keeps creativity alive, from her home in Cyprus to the many places she has visited. We’ve learned from her journey that making art can be about play, discovery, and a quiet joy that invites others in.
To learn more about Francesca, click the following links to visit her profile.
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