Artist Spotlight: Anne Bentley
Anne Bentley is an artist of many mediums with a unique and fun style any puzzle-enthusiast will love. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and her dog Georgie!
Do you ever experience any creative blocks? How do you push through when you’re feeling uninspired?
Yes! Sometimes adrenaline will kick in at the last minute of a looming deadline & shake me out of it, but more often I have learned to accept that it’s just part of the process. If I try to force my way through a creative lull I end up making awful work which is more frustrating than the block itself! I do other things in the meantime; take a lot of walks with my dog, Georgie, go thrifting,hang out in bookstores or visit a museum - anything to recharge outside of my workspace.
What are some other ways you use your artistic talents?
I like to make paper mache bracelets and bowls & draw patterns for fabric and textiles. Haven’t done it in a while, but I enjoy breaking out the oil paints & making small portraits of family using old photos for reference. Also love to move furniture and pictures around - be careful when you go to sit down, that chair might not be there anymore!
What are some things that give you inspiration?
Fashion, architecture; especially Bauhaus & mid-century; pottery, vintage textiles and plants and old magazines and children’s books. When possible, I like to add something personal to the puzzles I collaborate on with Galison.The Parisian Life Puzzle storefronts are named after my kids - Amelia & Jack, and my mom, Blanche. I put my initials on the pjs for the Pajama Mamas puzzle and drew a variation of my dog in the Lounge Dogs puzzle. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my husband & dog, Georgie. Clients include Galison, Anthropologie, Chronicle Books, BlueQ, Smithsonian, Real Simple Magazine, Soho House, TripAdvisor, HarperCollins and The Washington Post.
