Emma Bennett

www.emmabennettcollage.co.uk

Emma is originally from Bournville in Birmingham. A trained primary school teacher, she is now a full time professional artist, illustrator and creator/editor of The City Art Book series. After studying archaeology at university Emma trained as a teacher and spent two years working in China with VSO. A dream job as an Exhibition Developer at The Science Museum in London and then as Head of Architecture Education at Dulwich Picture Gallery began a career of over fifteen years working in exhibition design and project management.

It was a move to the beautiful city of Cambridge (UK) in 2005 (With husband Craig Bennett; CEO of The Wildlife Trusts) that re-ignited a love of all things art. Surrounded by the history, grandeur, creativity and vibrancy of Cambridge, Emma began to create pictures using her favorite technique of hand-cut collage. Using only recycled papers her creations range from nature and animals to large-scale intricate architectural city scapes.  Her work can be seen in a major Cambridge Art Gallery and in exhibitions in the region. Clients include The University of Cambridge, The RSPB, Friends of the Earth and The Scott Polar Museum.

Emma enjoys leading art workshops in schools and for three years run a voluntary art group for local elderly residents. The idea for The Cambridge Art Book (The first in The City Art Book series) came in 2016, with a desire to show the city through the eyes of its artists and to get people walking around Cambridge to see how different buildings and sites can represented in different forms and media.  Cambridge artists were quick to come on board (As was local based publishes UIT Cambridge) and Emma was assisted in selecting images for publication by a panel of city and art experts - an essential part of the editing process, which is used for every book. 

Following the success of The Cambridge Art Book, which shows the city through the eyes (and using a wide variety of different techniques) by over 50 artists, The Oxford Art Book was published in 2018 followed by The Edinburgh Art Book, The Liverpool Art Book and The Dublin Art Book. The Bristol and Bath Art Book will be published in 2021 with The Birmingham Art Book to follow in 2022.

2021 also sees the publication of Emma's first written and illustrated Children's book, 'Finn and the Flies' (www.finnandthefiveflies.co.uk)

Emma has a studio in central Cambridge where she works, often with Barney the Labrador snoring away. Work is now divided between book illustration, creating the next City Art Book and commissions/creating original art.

A quick link to Emma's work can be found here:www.emmabennettcollage.co.uk